Little Angel Thesis
by luckychaos
Summary: What if, when the Angels are killed, they become literal Shoulder Angels and haunt the pilots? Surely only good things would come of it, right? Maybe?
1. Chapter 1: Third's the Charm

So, around 2010, a bunch of people on the Spacebattles forum came up with a neat little idea based on a simple question: "What if, when the Angels are killed, they become _literal _Shoulder Angels and haunt the pilots?"

A thread was made (the link for which can be found on my profile) and the whole concept took on a life on its own. It had a good run, hell, a _great _one I'd say, but eventually interest waned and the whole thing somewhat petered off. That's just the way things go.

That is, unless some poor shmuck gets overwhelmed with nostalgia and decides to embark on the unenviable task of trying to make a coherent plot out of the whole mess. Like _that _would ever happen, right?

Right?

* * *

Somewhere deep beneath the Pacific Ocean, a would-be god was hatching.

An orange egg the size of a two-story house, firmly nestled beneath layers of grime and earth, slowly pulsed with light. The nightmarish menagerie of deep-sea life that dwelt near the egg gave no attention to it, being mostly made up of blind creatures. What _did_ disturb them, however, was when the egg began to tremble, shaking loose fifteen years-worth of collected detritus and sending any nearby creatures darting away, terrified by the sudden change. The egg continued to shudder and, if one looked closely, one could see a dark mass squirming within.

Then one would mostly likely be disturbed because the thing within looked a tad too much like a human fetus.

The smooth surface of the egg began to crack, followed by a (relatively) tiny pink spike poking its way out. Once it broke through, an overbearing light encompassed the egg, its form losing all cohesion as the thing within burst through and took shape.

The first distinguishable feature was a red orb, roughly the same size as the now-dissipated egg. The orb glowed, and around it an immense figure took shape. Standing nearly two-hundred feet tall on spindly legs, the creature stepped onto the ocean floor, its tri-symmetrical hands bracing it in the muck. Most of its skin was a dark green, almost slimy, with bony plates forming along its shoulders and rib cage. The rib armor partially covered the red orb, whose light dimmed once the creature's shape solidified. With a bird-like and bony face, it looked up.

Exalting in its birth, the would-be god began plotting grand designs and schemes, no doubt reveling in its newfound power and-

_Hey, I was TOTALLY supposed to have wings! I waited fifteen-frickin-years for wings and what do I get? BUBKIS!_

Or not.

_Whatever,_ the Angel thought as it stood to its full height. _It looks like I'm first anyway, so I guess that's fine. Sooooo where you at, Pops?_

Expanding the Light of its Soul outward, it began its search. And what it found was…

_Holy crapbaskets, there's TRILLIONS of Lights out there! All from the Black Seed, too. Hrm. That'll be an issue. Oh well, they'll all get wiped out in my new world order and everything will be peachy-keen! _

After a few more minutes of scanning the globe, it finally found a Light that set itself apart from the others. Unlike the rest, the Light felt… ancient, like its Soul had existed for eternity. And that could only mean one thing.

_Welp, if that's not a Progenitor then I'm a… _The Angel paused. _Uh… something that isn't me. Ugh. Good thing there's no one here to hear these bad jokes._

Good thing, indeed.

_Anyway! Time to pay Pops a visit! _With a push from its legs, boosted by the Light of its Soul, the Angel launched upward. The darkness of the deep ocean quickly began to fade, giving way to blue.

_Alright world, here comes Sachiel! Hope you're ready for me!_

Unbeknownst to it, they most certainly were. Every AT-field sensor in the Pacific blared in warning, startling and scaring everyone who was managing them. The news spread like wildfire, eventually reaching a certain orange-spectacled man in the Geofront, who smirked behind his gloved fingers.

The Third Angel had come.

-0-

**Little Angel Thesis**

**By: luckychaos**

**Disclaimer: Neon Genesis Evangelion and all related properties belong to Hideaki Anno and Studio Gainax. A lot of the material was also developed by various people on the Spacebattles forums.**

-0-

"COME."

That was all his father sent him. Okay, maybe there was more to it, but everything was censored out, so it might as well have not mattered! After three-frickin-years of nothing! Where'd he get off like that, ordering the son he'd _abandoned_ to go to Tokyo-3 out of the blue. His father could kiss his ass for all he cared!

At least, that's what most people who weren't Shinji Ikari would think. Instead, the youngest male of the Ikari clan jumped at the call to see his father again, even if he wasn't really sure why. Perhaps there was a chance they could be a family again. Father did everything for a reason, didn't he?

Another not insignificant factor in his decision was the photograph that was included with Father's letter. On it was an _extremely _attractive twenty-something woman leaning forward suggestively, giving Shinji a nice view of her 'assets'. In case he'd somehow missed that, a super-helpful arrow pointing to her cleavage was drawn on, apparently by the same woman.

This woman, a Misato Katsuragi, was supposedly the one picking him up. Well, considering she'd already gotten Shinji "up" in one way, he decided he didn't take much issue with that.

Clutching the photo in his hand, Shinji sighed and leaned back in his train seat. Maybe something interesting would happen when he got to Tokyo-3. That'd be neat.

-0-

Sachiel waded towards the shore confused as all hell.

_Okay… I see tons of Lilim, but they're not even using their Souls' Lights! They have 'em, I can feel it, so why aren't they doing anything with 'em? Are they really that weak?_

He would've continued his inner line of thought if not for the barrage of missiles and shells being launched from the tanks and warships before him.

_Hey! Cut that out! _Sachiel raised his long arms to shield himself as explosions smashed against the Light of his Soul. _Seriously, is this all you can do? Lemme show ya how us White Mooners do things._

After quite unnecessarily cracking his knuckles, his eyes flared with blinding light. Warships and tanks alike were torn asunder by the cross beams. And just like that, all was silence. If he could have, Sachiel would've sighed as he finally reached the shore.

_Worst. War for Complementation. Ever._

-0-

Worst. Family Reunion. Ever.

Shinji groaned at the phone, which was still uselessly droning on about the "State of Emergency." First the train was stopped, then he had to spend a whole _twenty minutes_ searching for a public phone because his uncle couldn't afford a cell phone for him, and then _of course _the phone lines weren't working!

What the hell was the "State of Emergency" for, anyway? It didn't _look _like there was anything…

A giant bird-lizard thing strode into the town.

…Oh. What.

-0-

_Okay, you know what? I'll be the bigger man, here. Literally, because I'm bigger than all of you! Get it? …Oh, you can't hear me, can you? Oh well, I'll keep pretending that you can, that way I'll feel less…_

_Ahem. Anyway, I'm toning down my Soul's Light, just to make things more even for us, cool? Cool._

Right as he did, two missiles firmly rammed themselves into his face.

_OW! Okay, I was just trying to be-OW WHERE DO YOU GET ALL THESE STUPID THINGS!_

More missiles followed, joined in by the swarm of VTOLs buzzing around the Angel. A constant stream of bullets flew from beneath their wings, peppering Sachiel's slick green hide.

_THAT DOES IT!_

The bony spike jutting from his right elbow glowed along with the core in his chest. He raised his palm towards one of the VTOLs, which quickly got on the receiving end of his lance. As the damaged aircraft crashed to the earth, another missile flew at him, which he easily intercepted and tore to shreds with one three-fingered hand.

_You know what? Getting hurt sucks, so I'm just gonna raise up my barrier until I meet up with Dad. _

-0-

Far away from the Third Angel, an order was given. Closer to the Third Angel, as well as a certain Third Child and Captain, the order was carried out.

-0-

_Yeah, that's right, you better run! You're all a bunch of wusses anyway! Go and cry back to your Black Progenitor!_

It was at that point that Sachiel stepped on something. Curious, he leaned down to get a better look at it.

_Huh, why'd they leave this behi-_

Suddenly, fire!

_OH SWEET DAD WHY IS EVERYTHING SUDDENLY FIRE AND SUFFERING AHHHHH!_

-0-

Shinji Ikari was wondering a similar thing at the same time. At first, he was _quite _enjoying the view Miss Katsuragi was giving him of her boobs, even if it might've been accidental. She even threw herself at him, wrapping him up in her oh so sweet and rockin' hot bod.

But then the explosion happened, therefore preventing the poor hormonal fourteen-year-old boy from adequately enjoying the situation. While explosions _can_ certainly make many occasions better, this was sadly not one such occasion.

-0-

_Ugh… what happened? _

_Oh, right. The fire and suffering. Owwwwww. It hurts to move and… did you guys _break _my _face_?! Seriously?! I need to make a new one now, you asses!_

He spied a lone Lilim drone buzzing annoying high above him. A flash of his eyes and it was ash.

_You know what, screw you guys! Once I reunite with Dad I'm gonna wipe your stupid species off the face of the planet!_

-0-

Hours later, Shinji was in a long, cylindrical object being shoved into a hole.

The… what had the doctor called it? Entry plug? Whatever it was, it was filled with weird orange water that smelled a _little _too much like blood for Shinji's taste.

"Not that it really matters what I think," Shinji muttered bitterly at no one in particular.

All his father wanted him for was just to pilot a giant robot. That's supposed to be awesome! Who wouldn't want to suddenly become the hero of some epic battle between good and evil? Hell, he didn't even have to do anything to earn it! It was the ultimate power fantasy!

So why did it not feel right?

He saw for himself how powerful that _thing _out there was. Not even an N2 mine could kill it. What chance did a normal fourteen-year-old kid with no training whatsoever have against something like that?

Shinji's hands balled into fists. He was being sent out there to die and he knew it. He lived a boring life with no father, no fun, no _friends_… He never even got to kiss a girl. A bitter tear fell down his cheek, eventually dissolving into the LCL.

Such things were not for him, it seemed.

-0-

_About… freakin'… time._

After over two hours of healing, Sachiel had _finally _reached the area where he sensed the Light of the Progenitor's Soul. He still wasn't one hundred percent sure it _was _his dad, but in his quest for Complementation he stubbornly refused to consider any other theory.

He strode into the city, which was mercifully free of the Lilim and their bothersome toys. He'd blasted open a hole in the center earlier, directly above a spot deep below the earth where he pinpointed the White Progenitor's location.

_I'm finally gonna see you again, Dad. It sucks that the others can't come, though... And it would've been nice to have, I dunno, a friend or something while I could still be an individual._

Sachiel's new bone mask drooped slightly, the closest the Third Angel could come to outwardly emoting. He shook himself of such thoughts and continued onward.

Until part of the street he was on opened up, revealing a giant clad in purple and green.

_Really now? You Lilim have been holding out on me! I didn't know you guys had something like that!_

The purple giant slumped slightly, more of its visage becoming visible by the street lights. Sachiel peered closer to get a better look.

_And dayuuuuuum is she hot! Hey babe, let's say you ditch your stinky Lilim friends and hook up with me instead? I'll even put a good word in with my Dad when we begin Complementation! Who knows, we might even cut you a slice of the new world order pie, yaknowwhatImsayin?_

Evidently it did not, as it took one step and fell face-first to the ground.

… _Maybe not. Oh well, I hate to do this, but I can't just leave you be. You're the only thing around I've seen so far that's even _close _to what I am, so who knows what tricks you might got up your sleeve._

Sachiel picked up the giant, which flopped limply in the Angel's grip. With one hand holding the purple chick's head and the other gripping her arm, he began to pull.

_It's kinda funny, actually. Aren't you Lilim supposed to have the Fruit of Knowledge? You see what this 'knowledge' crap gets ya?_

One sickening crunch later, the newly-lame limb fell.

_Bubkis, that's what. _

He called forth his lance, the great force of which began ramming into the giant's horned face.

_Ab-_

BAM!

_-solute…_

BAM!

… _bubkis!_

The lance pierced through her skull, sending her plated body crashing into a building. Thick torrents of blood gushed out of the gaping wounds in her bowed head.

_Dad dammit, this isn't fun at all. I really am sorry, babe. I gotta get Complementation, otherwise how else are we supposed to stop being alone? You understand, don't ya?_

In response, the giant's only visible eye flashed brilliantly. The beast within raised its horned head and roared with a fury that gave Sachiel pause.

_Uhhhhh is that supposed to happen?_

The giant hunched down and then-

_Hey what're you doing in my face?! How did you even MOVE like that?! _

Sachiel struggled under the weight of the suddenly-competent hottie in purple armor, trying to match her strength with his.

_Will… you… get… OFF!_

With a mighty heave he managed to push her off, but he barely had enough time to manifest the Light of his Soul to ward off her near-instant retaliation.

_There! Holy Dad, you are a tough cookie, but good luck breaking through… Oh. You broke through. Well then, have some BLAMMY!_

Sachiel's eyes flashed and the purple giant was engulfed in fiery light.

_That's right, suck it! Nothing you Lilim have has been able to beat muh lasers so far, especially at such a close range! How do you like that?!_

When the cross beams dissipated, the giant still stood, growling like a feral beast.

_I see that you didn't like that. Granted, I would've prefer-HEY WHAT'RE YOU DOING WITH MY ARMS!_

CRUNCH!

_OW OW OW! OH THE IRONY!_

A swift kick right in the chest sent the Angel reeling backward, his giant frame colliding into another building.

_Okay, I get it. You're doing the same stuff I did too, which is _totally _understandable. Now you've had your fun, so how's about we call it a tie here and-_

She slammed into him, sending the both of them, building included, sliding across the streets. When they stopped, she reached for his rib cage.

_Hey now, we just met, so let's not rueeeEEEEOOWWWWWW! BITCH!_

With a freshly-ripped shard of bony rib plate, the giant glared hungrily at his core. She slammed downward on it with her makeshift weapon over and over again, until finally it cracked. Panic rising, Sachiel screeched and rushed to envelop her with his body.

_You drove me to this, I'll have you know! Hopefully this won't completely destroy my body. I just need to properly apply the Light of my Soul so that it only makes me _mostly _dead…_

_Which I can't do, because my core's all broke. Awesome. Wait, I'm about to actually die! ABORT ABORT ABORT!_

With a poorly thought-out tactic, the Third Angel self-destructed, evaporated all of its physical remains from existence.

Key word here being "physical."

-0-

A tiny figure sat in the ruins of a building, staring at the purple giant. It had been still since the battle ended, with no sign of movement outside of the side the helmet falling off. Eventually, Lilim began to appear on the streets, maneuvering vehicles and equipment around the towering purple beast.

After a while, a cylindrical object was removed from between the shoulder blades. The tiny figure raised an eyebrow on his stylized face when he saw a smaller Lilim, probably an adolescent, exit said object.

"_So was I actually fighting that kid instead of her?" _mused the ghost of Sachiel aloud. _"I could've sworn I was fighting only one soul…"_

The implications of that were… interesting.

The gears in his incorporeal mind began to roll. With a determined look on his bird-like face, he began to follow the boy around. No one noticed him as he did so.

-0-

Shinji Ikari was not having a good time. After Misato had told him he had done a "good thing," he was lying in bed staring up at yet another unfamiliar ceiling.

He'd felt his _arm _break! It was as real as anything he'd ever felt! Yet there it was, still intact and completely not-broken. And then the awful, awful agony of that _thing _shoved that spear through his face! Why were his brains not dashed across the entry plug?! Why would you even make it so the pilots feel the Eva's pain?! It made NO SENSE!

"I hate this," Shinji muttered softly, tears starting to form in his blue eyes. "I hate this so much."

"_Why would you say that? You were kickass out there!"_

For a moment there, Shinji forgot how to breathe. With wide eyes, he turned sssslllloooowwwwllllyyyy to his side to find…

A six-inch version of the Third Angel, although it wasn't an exact copy, was hovering over his shoulder. Its head was much bigger in proportion to the rest of its body and its body was partially transparent. Still, it couldn't be denied that it was the same thing he'd killed _just days ago!_

"Oh god please don't kill me!" Shinji squealed, raising up his arms to defend himself.

"_Shush!" _the Third Angel quickly said, darting in front of Shinji's face. _"I'm not gonna kill you! You already kinda killed me, so what's the point?"_

Shinji blinked, hysteria briefly pushed aside by confusion. "Um… what?"

"_Look, I don't really know the specifics," _Sachiel sighed, _"For some reason, my body was killed but my Soul wasn't. Instead I think it somehow latched onto the thing that killed me. Maybe it was self-preservation, but that doesn't really make much sense, considering I'm already, ya know, dead."_

"So…" Shinji slowly started, after a pause. "You really are that Angel from a couple days ago?"

"_Yup! Sachiel, Covering of God and Angel of Water, at your service!" _declared the Angel with a flourish.

Shinji gulped, unsure of how to proceed. This thing wasn't _acting _hostile, but it all could some ploy to gain his trust. Maybe the best way to go about it was to try and figure out what it wanted. Maybe later, he could tell Misato or Doctor Akagi about it and see what they did about it.

If they believed him, at any rate.

Still, Shinji surprised himself with how well he was taking it, considering. Then again, he was forced to pilot a giant robot that wasn't _really _a robot and saw the hideous thing beneath the armor. Maybe being haunted by the ghost of a monster wasn't too weird.

"Um… what do you want from me?" he asked shakily.

Sachiel shrugged his petite shoulders, floating down to flop on the bed next to Shinji. _"Well, originally I wanted to achieve Complementation with my Progenitor, but it looks like you Lilim got me good. Since my body was destroyed, I'm pretty much out of this race."_

"Wait, what? Complementation? What's that? And what were those other words, Progeni-what or something?"

Sachiel stared bug-eyed at the boy that towered over him.

"_Seriously? I thought you guys knew about that. You know, Complementation, the end goal that all Seed-based life strive for? Ensuring that your species ends up the one on top by challenging and defeating the others? Ringing any bells?"_

Shinji shook his head, frowning. "Sorry, I don't anything about that. As far as I know, we're only fighting Angels for survival."

"_Makes sense, I guess. It seems like you Lilim are top dog already, anyway."_

"Lilim?"

"_Oh come on, do you not even know who your Progenitor is?! What kind of education are you giving to your kids?! You are all born of Lilith, therefore you are all Lilim. Simple stuff here, dude."_

The boy shrunk back, even though he was talking to something barely the size of his foot. "I'm sorry; I don't know anything about stuff like that."

Sachiel raised an eyebrow at him. _"No need to get so defensive, dude. I'm just shocked you guys are so uninformed is all, nothing against you personally."_

"O-okay."

A few moments of awkward silence ensued. Until Shinji coughed and hesitantly asked, "So, if you really can't do that Complementation thing now, what do you want?"

"_Eh, I thought I'd chill with you for a while."_

"R-really? Why me? I'm no good…"

"_What?!" _Sachiel shouted, zipping back up into Shinji's face. _"What're you saying that crap before? You utterly DESTROYED me earlier and you came out unscathed! Sure I broke your freaking _sexy _toy a little bit, but you came strong and romped me good!"_

"I… um… wha-" Shinji sputtered at the praise. "Wait… sexy?! How is Unit 01 sexy?!"

"_You can't choose the ones you love," _Sachiel declared in his most overly-dramatic voice, before changing back to a more serious tone. _"Look, that doesn't matter right now. Don't go talking down on yourself, alright? You seem like a pretty cool guy to me, and I won't hear you say otherwise."_

"Um… o-okay," was all Shinji could manage, unsure of how to feel.

"_So… do you mind if I hang around you for a while?" _Sachiel asked, for the first time sounding unsure. He extended a petite tri-symmetrical hand towards the boy.

Shinji couldn't help but wonder at the absurdity of the situation. Here was the ghost of the giant monster that nearly killed him and made him suffer horrible pain, now asking to be his friend. Any right-thinking person would turn the thing down and wave the whole situation off as some weird sort of PTSD-fueled hallucination.

But… the lonely boy in him reveled at the chance at finally having someone to call his friend, even if it was a potentially-imaginary undead alien. Maybe, Shinji thought, he's just as lonely as I am.

Shinji nodded and raised a finger to meet Sachiel's hand. Three teeny claws grasped his finger and the two shook.

For the first time in history, a descendent of a White Progenitor and a descendent of a Black Progenitor accepted one another.

"_So what's your name, kiddo?" _asked Sachiel, after resting himself on the boy's shoulder.

"I'm Shinji Ikari," he answered, "And you're… Sachiel, right?"

The little Angel nodded. _"Damn straight. Say, I've been wondering," _he pointed at a large, oddly shaped case in the corner. _"What's that for? It looks kinda funny."_

"Oh, that's my cello."

"_Eh?"_

"It's an instrument that makes music."

Sachiel shrugged, a confused expression on his face. _"Music? I dunno what you're talking about."_

Shinji's eyes bulged. "You don't know what music is?!"

"_How would I? I was alive for barely a day!"_

"Oh, right," Shinji wilted. "Sorry about that."

"_Meh, I lost fair and square, don't apologize for that. Wanna show me what this music thing is?"_

"You… You actually want to hear me play?" A surge of excitement fluttered in Shinji's chest. No one besides his teacher had ever asked him to play before.

"_Sure! I'm curious now."_

"Well…" Shinji glanced nervously at the door. "Misato's trying to sleep, so I probably shouldn't. It'd wake her up."

"_Ah, so music has to do with sound?"_

Shinji nodded.

"_Damn shame," _Sachiel said, _"Oh well, we can do it later."_

A thought occurred to Shinji. "Actually, I have another way you can listen to some music." He picked up his SDAT player from the floor, offering it to the little Angel. Sachiel eagerly grabbed it, grunting as he tried to get a good hold of an object roughly the same size as him.

"_So does this plastic thingy make music, too?" _asked Sachiel, _"But if something this small can make music, why would you need something big like that cello?"_

"They do different things," Shinji explained, "Here, put in these ear buds… wait, do you even have ears?"

The ear buds popped into the sides of Sachiel's head. _"Looks like I do! So what now?"_

"Now, I press play." Shinji did so.

For a few seconds, Sachiel was still. Then his eyes widened slightly and a wide grin crossed his face. The little Angel hovered lazily off Shinji's shoulder, drifting and swaying to the tune of the music.

Sachiel's joy was infectious, the sight of which made Shinji smile. He thought it would've been a long shot to find another appreciator of classical music in the ghostly alien, but luckily that didn't seem to be the case. It belatedly occurred to him that he'd just shared the only real keepsake he had from his father, the one connection to a family that could've been and what allowed him to escape this cruel world. The idea should've horrified him, and yet…

"_This is absolutely beautiful!" _Sachiel squealed in delight. _"You Lilim really make this?"_

"Yeah," Shinji breathed, "His name was Bach."

For the first time in a very, very long time, Shinji didn't feel alone. And all it had taken was the undead apparition of a bird-lizard alien that had tried to kill him.

-0-

Thousands of miles away, a father stirred.

_My son… was that you? I thought I could see your Light, but it's so, so cold and so, so dark here… _

_I can't see you anymore. Where have you gone? I miss you so much. I miss all of you, so, so much. Why can't we be together? I can't… remember…_


	2. Chapter 2: The New Kid

"Again."

Ryoji Kaji, resident double/triple/quadruple agent (it really depended on who you asked) and all-around cool cat sighed and puffed out a small cloud of smoke.

"You've looked at the same reel of footage twenty times. What difference would twenty-_one_ make?" he groaned, lightly tapping his cigarette on an ashtray.

"How am I supposed to properly critique the Third Child if I don't know every single detail of his performance?" asked Asuka Langley Sohryu, resident self-styled ace pilot and master of mixed signals. "They'll eventually _have _to ship me and Unit 02 to the battlefront, and it's my duty as the veteran pilot to help train the rookie."

"Technically, the Third would be the veteran pilot," Kaji piped up with a smirk. "Considering that he's already seen more action than you."

"You know, it's really not cute when you get like that," Asuka pouted. "You're supposed to compliment a girl at every opportunity!"

"Duly noted."

Asuka sighed in frustration. She would net him yet! It was only a matter of time. "Again."

"Yeah, yeah," Kaji groused, hitting the play button. On the big screen, the battle between Unit 01 and the Third Angel proceeded once more. He took a big drag of his cigarette and leaned back into the chair, gaze wandering to an email he'd just received. The double/triple/quadruple agent's eyes widened when he saw who had sent it.

-0-

**Chapter 2: The New Kid**

-0-

Shinji groaned and rolled about in his bed, praying to the gods of sleep and laziness that they bless him with just a few more minutes of undisturbed sleep. Unfortunately for our erstwhile hero, the only beings around that could be called gods were either in cryogenic stasis or being forced to indulge a shadowy cabal's obsession with unnecessary symbolism.

"_About freaking time you're awake!" _complained Sachiel, shoving himself in Shinji's face. _"Do you have any idea how BORING it is around here when you people are asleep?!"_

The Third Child grumbled in response and tried to wave Sachiel away. Unperturbed, the little Angel had an idea that caused an evil grin to cross his cartoonish face. He darted over to the blinds and grasped the dangly-thing in his tiny hand.

"_Hey, Shinji?"_

"Mmf?"

"_RISE AND SHINE!"_

The blinds opened, blasting Shinji with cruel sunlight and causing the poor boy to scream in a way that was totally manly and not at all made one think of a small child. Rubbing tears away from his face, Shinji looked up and glared at his tormentor.

"What'd you do that for?!"

"_Like I said, it's boring as hell around here when you're asleep. Besides, isn't your species supposed to be diurnal? Consider it me doing you a favor!"_

"Some favor," mumbled Shinji, but he got up all the same. As he got himself dressed, he asked, "If you were so bored, why didn't _you _get some sleep?"

"_Don't need it," _Sachiel tapped at the red orb on his chest. _"My core provides me with infinite energy, so long as I don't overload it too often. Don't need food either. At least, that was the case when I was alive." _He shrugged. _"Now that I'm dead, that stuff doesn't really matter anyway."_

"Huh," Shinji grunted, slipping on his usual white shirt. He realized belatedly that he should've found it disconcerting listening to someone idly refer to themselves as dead, but when he looked again at the tiny, floating Angel the idea stopped being weird. "You know, you could probably watch TV or something while we're asleep, so long as it's quiet enough."

"… _Tee vee? What's that?"_

Shinji groaned and rubbed his temples. It was _way_ too early for this.

"I'll explain later, alright? I need to eat something first."

"_Okey dokey. I swear, how you guys get by without an Organ is beyond me…"_

"… We have multiple organs?" Shinji tried to explain, but he was so confused that instead it came out more as a question.

Sachiel sighed and shook his head. _"Not what I meant. I'll explain later, just get your grub already."_

The two of them walked (well, one of them floated, but you get it) into the kitchen, which was noticeably absent of a certain purple-haired captain. Shinji peered around, calling her name into the hallway to see if she was still in her bedroom, but there was no answer. Sachiel hovered over to the table and spotted something.

_"Yo, I think that female you live with left a note," _he said, pointing at a slip of paper on the table.

Shinji picked the note up and read it.

"Hey, Shinji~!

Sorry I had to leave you all by your lonesome this morning, but I had to go in early for work I'll be back for dinner, though! Until then, feel free to do whatever you want! Help yourself to anything in the fridge (except the beer, cuz that's MINE!) haha just kidding but seriously. Anyway, see you soon! When I get back we'll be sure to have some fuuun~ with just the two of us ; )

-Misato 3

P.S. I left some cash money but don't go spending it on too many hookers and blow, kay? Thanks!

P.P.S. Don't forget to feed Pen Pen so he doesn't die!"

For the second time that morning, Shinji groaned. It was really starting to look like he had to be the actual adult around here.

_"Big fan of exclamation points, isn't she? But what's with that symbol that looks kinda like her pair of tumors?"_ Sachiel inquired, curiosity on his bird-like face.

_You know what exclamation points are, but not hearts?_ Shinji wondered internally, before mentally shrugging. _Eh, best not to ask… wait…_

"Tumors?" Shinji asked, completely and hopelessly confused. "Where'd you get _that _from?"

_"Ya know, those huge and weird growths on her chest," _Sachiel explained, cupping his tri-symmetrical hands on his chest to demonstrate, imitating what a very generous person would call breasts.

Shinji went beat-red when the realization hit him. "N-n-no, those aren't tumors! They're a v-v-very normal part of g-girls…"

_"Huh, coulda fooled me," _Sachiel said, shrugging. _"You lilim are so freaking weird with your sexual dimorphisms. Anyway, what's the symbol mean?"_

Shinji took a deep breath, doing his best to repress dirty thoughts about those _glorious, heaving-_ahem. Totally repressed. Yup. "It's supposed to represent a heart. Like a sign of affection."

_"… So it's a courtship thing? Is she trying to mate with you?"_

The Third Child had unfortunately chosen that exact moment to drink some water. Said water now found itself quickly spat out by said Third Child. "W-W-WHAT?! No no no no, that's not it at all!"

Sachiel rolled through the air in laughter, lazily drifting on what seemed to be pure joy alone. _"Man, you are just _too _easy with this! Sweet Dad, your hormones are absolutely bonkers!"_

Shinji glared at the bothersome ghost. "Not funny," he pouted.

_"Yeah, yeah," _Sachiel said, wiping tears from his eyes. _"For real though, I get what you mean by affection. So are you and her pretty close, then?"_

"Not… really," Shinji muttered, face growing pensive. "I just met her a few days ago, so I barely know her. I still don't understand why she took me in the first place…"

_"Why not? She probably thought you needed a place and figured you could crash at her place." _The tiny Third Angel shrugged, floating towards the sink. _"Maybe she's trying to be nice to you."_

"I guess," Shinji mused, although he didn't sound too confidant of that.

Sachiel shrugged, apparently finding the sink too boring and hovering back to Shinji. _"Anyway, what's the plan for today, chief? Oh! Maybe you can give me a tour of the city I trashed!" _he said excitedly, _"Or you could introduce me to that hot momma of an Angel you got…"_

If Shinji had known that Sachiel had indeed meant Angel with a capital 'a', the poor kid most likely would've have a heart attack or worse. As it was, however, the Third Child simply thought that the Third Angel was calling Unit 01 an 'angel' as a weird compliment, so for once Shinji did not freak out over it.

Thankfully, both of them were totally unaware of how close 'hot mama' came to accurately describing Unit 01.

"Actually, I was thinking about just staying around here and cleaning the place up," Shinji said, smiling sheepishly, "It's kind of a pig sty around here."

And indeed it was. Empty beer cans littered the floor, haphazardly tossed aside after their usefulness had been at an end. They were joined by the shredded remains of the plastic covers of countless frozen meals, which looked like they'd be mangled by a vicious predatory beast. A mountain of grimy and used plates piled up in the sink, a monument to Misato's laziness. Not to mention the thick and notably _unidentifiable _odor that seemed to ooze its way out of Mt. Filth.

Just looking at it all made Shinji's head hurt. This just would not _do_.

Sachiel nodded. _"Not sure what a pig is, but I'm guessing they must come from inhospitable wastelands if you're comparing where they're from to this joint."_

Shinji sighed internally. Explaining _everything _to his little companion was shaping to be a daunting task.

"I'm gonna make some food real quick… _somehow_… and then we'll get started. In the meantime, wanna tell me more about those Progenitor things?"

-0-

_My liver is whispering mean things about me to my kidneys. And that's not even the worst of my problems right now._

Misato Katsuragi, down in NERV HQ, glared at the ever-growing army of paperwork arrayed before her, perhaps hoping that she might be able to terrify the hordes of reports and files into submission. Alas, they would not yield until she had signed them all. In triplicate. Losing the will to maintain her glare, Misato groaned and lowered her head, rubbing her temples. It sure as hell didn't _feel _like she'd already gone through at least a third of the forms…

"I thought they hired me to kill Angels, not to be a glorified desk jockey…" she whined to no one in particular.

Another pile of papers slammed into existence on her table, startling Misato and prompting her to let out a yowl of despair.

"Oh, quit being overly-dramatic," the deliverer of Misato's bane replied sardonically.

Misato glared at her in response. "You'd be 'overly-dramatic' too if you were stuck in this stupid room doing this stupid paperwork because of a stupid Angel attack…"

Ritsuko Akagi rolled her eyes at her friend, brushing a stray blonde hair out of her face. "You think _you _have it rough? Try personally directing Unit 01's repairs, which involves resetting the damn thing's arm, not to mention all the cranial damage, _plus_ analyzing the frustratingly few samples we have the Third Angel, _and_…"

"God, I get it, I get it," Misato complained, waving her hand dismissively. "Things aren't peachy-keen in the land of the good doctor. I just… I didn't sign up for all this busywork, ya know?"

"Yeah, well, you kind of did," Ritsuko said without an ounce of sympathy, prompting yet another glare from Misato. "Besides, this fresh batch isn't for you. This is Shinji's homework that he has to catch up on for school."

Misato let out a deep breath of relief, which was followed by a quirk of her eyebrow. "Wait, didn't I ask Makoto to handle that? What're you doing with this?"

Ritsuko snickered in reply. "Let's just say your foul mood was practically oozing out of the room. Makoto was standing outside bracing himself when I stopped by to visit you and the poor guy looked absolutely terrified of walking in. I decided to take pity and take the heat for him."

"Mmm," Misato grunted, peering at Shinji's stack of homework. Poor kid had at least a couple months' worth of material to catch up on. Envy him, she did not.

"Anyway, how's Shinji holding up?" Ritsuko asked, seating herself on Misato's table and pushing aside some papers to make room.

Misato thought about it for a while, before sighing. "I'm not sure, honestly. That boy was barely responsive to my feminine wiles…"

"You didn't _actually _put the moves on him?" Ritsuko pressed, tone scandalized.

The Captain snorted. "Oh, nothing quite as serious as that! Just a little skin here, some sideboob there…"

Short-shorts plus a baggy tank-top does not equal a 'little skin', but Rits hardly needed to know that.

Ritsuko groaned and rubbed her temples. "I swear, why I even _thought _agreeing to let him live with you was a good idea is beyond me."

"Hey, I can totally handle taking care of the kid," Misato retorted indignantly. "I _am _an adult, after all."

"Maybe in the chronological sense," Ritsuko quipped. "Anyway, I should probably get going. Try not to mentally scar Shinji too badly, alright?"

Misato waved dismissively at her friend as the doctor left. "No promises, Rits," she said, flashing a grin.

-0-

_"You see, Shinji, when a Black Moon and White Moon love each other very much, they Become One and create something wonderful. We call it a FAR, and it can end everything you hold dear."_

"That's nice."

_"And when a child of the FAR loves their daddy very much, they try to become one with them again, and that can also end everything you hold dear."_

"That's incest."

_"Incest, Complementation; potato, potahto."_

"Right," Shinji drawled. He wasn't really sure why, but all of these earth-shattering revelations about the origin of life as everyone knew were remarkably _not _making him have a mental breakdown. Then again, Shinji never considered himself a very religious person, unlike those wacko sects that sprouted up after Second Impact… what were they called again? Trib-something Brigade? There was definitely a 'trib' in there somewhere… Perhaps the Tribadism Brigade? Yeah, that sounded right.

Making a mental note to look up the word later, he tossed the last garbage bag in the dumpster with a grunt. With a smile on his face, Shinji wiped his hands and headed back toward the elevator. Sachiel sat up from where he was lounging on Shinji's shoulder.

_"Finally!" _the little Angel exclaimed. _"Now we can do something fun!"_

"Um, I thought that was actually kinda fun," Shinji said, rubbing the back of his head and smiling weakly.

_"… You're one weird kid, Shinji Ikari."_

The unlikely duo walked back into the apartment, which was almost unrecognizable from how it looked that morning. You could actually _see _the floor, for one. Some stains just wouldn't yield to the might of an ocean's worth of cleaning fluid, much to Shinji's chagrin, but at least one could walk about the apartment without tripping on alcoholism and sloth made manifest. No trace of Mt. Filth remained, however, and it was with no small sense of pride that Shinji noted the sink was spotless.

Sighing contently, Shinji sat down at the table to bask in the glory that was a clean kitchen.

_"So, now that this place is habitable again, what do?"_

The Third Child shrugged. "I dunno. I have the day off, so I was thinking about just staying in and relaxing…"

_"Hm," _Sachiel grunted. He lifted off of Shinji's shoulder, arms folded, and hovered idly in the air. _"I guess that's fine, so long as we actually do something. Oh, I know! Tell me stuff about Lilim!"_

"Like what?"

_"Oh, I dunno, anything! Uh…" _The little Angel tapped a tiny finger on his chin as he pondered. _"Ya know, I really don't know what to ask. Maybe I'm better off just watching you."_

Shinji grimaced. "I'm not exactly a typical example of a normal person…" he said quietly, and perhaps a little bitterly.

_"Why not?" _Sachiel asked, plopping down on the table. _"You seem pretty normal to me."_

"Said the ghost alien," Shinji muttered without realizing. When he did, his eyes widened and he immediately went "Sorry!"

Sachiel snickered. _"Eh, naw, you're right. I'm probs not the best judge." _He shrugged, smiling. _"Still, you're all right in my book."_

Shinji returned the smile, thought faintly.

-0-

"I'm home!" Misato called, stepping inside. As she took off her socks, Shinji's "Welcome home!" echoed from down the hall. The sounds of something on the TV followed his greeting. The Ops. Director smiled to herself when she heard none of the sulking tone she had been expecting from the Third Child. Heck, he even sounded _happy! _Perhaps he was overjoyed to once again be in her lovely company…

At least, until she stepped into the kitchen and realized just exactly why he was so happy.

The damn place was _spotless_. The Ruinous Fields of Tin and Plastic that had once spanned the entirety of the floor had been swept away by some great tsunami of OCD, along with the Cesspools of Spilt Booze that had stained the carpet once upon a time. That wasn't even mentioning the Dread Mountain of Refuse that had once rose tall and proud from the kitchen sink, but now there was no trace.

_Okay, so maybe those names were a little melodramatic… _Misato mused as she stepped hesitantly into the borderline unrecognizable room. _But seriously, what the hell happened here?! Did Shinji nuke the place with bleach?!_

"So…" Misato started, after inspecting where once lay a particularly nasty-looking beer stain had marked its territory. "I see you cleaned."

"Yup!" Shinji chirped from his spot on the couch in the living room. He turned the volume down on the TV, causing Sachiel to buzz up irately from the seat next to Shinji.

_"Hey, I was watching that!"_

"Then just sit closer." Shinji responded matter-of-factly. "It's rude to have the volume up when talking to someone." Misato did a double-take at his words and tilted her head.

_"Fine," _Sachiel grumbled as he plopped himself right in front of the TV screen. _"Stupid Lilim and their stupid social norms."_

"Uh… why're you telling me to sit closer?" Misato asked slowly, hand scratching her head. _Maybe I was a little too quick to think he was all right…_

Now it was Shinji's turn to be confused. "Huh? I was talking to Sachiel, not you…" he answered, gesturing at the little Angel in question. Misato shrugged and threw her hands up in the air.

"Sock-eye-ell? Is that your imaginary friend or something?"

"Eh?" Shinji blinked and tilted his head. "You don't…"

_"Oh, right, forgot to mention," _Sachiel said, eyes still locked on the TV. _"Only you can see and hear me. Guess it has something to do with you killing me and whatnot."_

"… Oh." Shinji looked back at his guardian. "Uh… never mind."

"Eh, don't sweat it, Shinji," Misato shrugged, sauntering her way over to the fridge as she did. "We all gotta deal with stress somehow, right? I certainly have my ways of _blowing off steam_." She cast him a wink before procuring a beer can. In one fluid motion she popped the lid and brought the can to her lips, glorious amber liquid sloshing down her throat.

Shinji grimaced when she slammed the suddenly-empty can on the table, but disregarded that for the moment when he thought about what she'd said. "Deal with stress?" he asked, head tilting.

Misato burped loudly and smirked when she saw Shinji flinch. "Oh ya know," she said, waving her hand at him, "Sometimes ya gotta indulge the voices in your head for a 'lil bit when things go nuts just to keep yourself same. But don't do it too much!" Misato suddenly raised her voice, causing Shinji to yelp and raise his arms defensively. "Remember that there're real people around here, too!"

_"Yeah, Shinji, why don't you cut the crazy talk?" _Sachiel teased, smirking back at the pilot.

Shinji groaned and palmed his face. _These two are gonna be the death of me… and why is she acting so gruff all of a sudden? She's only had one beer!_

"Yeah, I'll keep that in mind," Shinji blandly responded, once again electing to repress his actual feelings.

Misato nodded sagely, apparently satisfied with her on-point parenting skills. That earned her another beer, right?

_Absolutely._

"Oh, right," Misato said right as she was about to put a fresh can of Yebisu on her lips, "Be sure to be up bright and early tomorrow, Shinji! Rits needs you all day to run tests with you and Unit 01."

_"Wait, we're gonna be spending all day with the hot chick?!" _Sachiel asked excitedly. _"It's gonna be the best. Day. Ever!"_

-0-

**One day and too many hours spent doing absolutely nothing later**

-0-

_"Worst. Day. Ever."_ Sachiel whined.

While not wanting to say such for fear of insulting Dr. Akagi, Shinji was inclined to agree, if a tad less dramatically. The testing that Misato had mentioned was actually hours upon hours of scans and sitting in Unit 01's entry plug. On top of that, he had to do it all in something called a plugsuit, which could only be _very_ generously called clothing. And that was without even turning the damn thing _on_.

At least the good Doctor herself seemed like a pleasant enough person, and her assistant Lt. Ibuki was as cheerful as Misato with thankfully none of the obnoxiousness. Shinji could say he was pretty content with spending most of the day with only those two for company.

_"Can we please just get to the point where I can actually meet this purple beauty?"_

Well, maybe not only those two.

Shinji bore the constant griping with silence, praying that his tiny companion would eventually cease finding new ways to express his displeasure. Unfortunately, 'twas not meant to be.

_"Because I gotta tell ya, as much as I love being inside her, it all amounts to jack if nothing's going on."_

Shinji closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"Um, Dr. Akagi?" he meekly asked within the confines of the entry plug.

_"Hm?"_ came her distracted voice through the comm. _"What is it, Shinji?"_

"How much longer do we need to do this for?"

_"Let's see… actually, we're pretty much done with this round of testing. We'll be moving onto the next test shortly."_

_"Whoa whoa whoa there," _Sachiel started, face mask falling in hopelessness, _"The _next _test?!"_

"Uh… next test?" Shinji inquired, desperately trying to sound too disappointed.

The woman on the other end laughed. _"Don't worry, Shinji, this won't take nearly as long. It's an activation test, meant to give us a baseline synchronization rate while you're in the plugsuit."_

"Oh." Shinji paused for a bit, rolling the terms in his head, struggling to recall the wide array of science-y words that Dr. Akagi had thrown at him over the course of the day. "So… we're actually starting up Unit 01, then?"

_"Correct,"_ she answered tersely.

Sachiel's face lit up. _"Finally! Today just got a whole lot better!"_ He pumped a tiny fist in the air.

A lighter, more feminine voice replaced Ritsuko's over the comm. _"Shinji, we'll be starting up the procedure for the activation test in a few minutes here. Do you need anything before we begin?"_

Shinji shook his head. "No, I'm good."

_"Okay, then we'll be going dark for a few moments here before we start. Just remember to clear your mind once we get going," _Maya cautioned,_ "There's always a chance of mental contamination in case something goes wrong."_

Beside him, Sachiel snorted. _"She's talking about me, isn't she?"_

The Third Child nodded. "Understood, ma'am."

The comm. link severed, Shinji sighed and leaned back into his seat. Sachiel hovered in the air, idly drifting through the LCL before turning to face Shinji.

_"Does that 'going dark' thing mean we're shut off from outside?"_ he asked.

"I think so," Shinji nodded, sounding unsure, "But it won't last long."

_"That's fine."_ Sachiel wavered, expression thoughtful. Shinji raised an eyebrow at that. The little Angel's sudden attitude change had caught him off-guard, but he wasn't going to press the matter unless Sachiel said something first. _"Um… what was this like the first time you did this?"_

The question startled Shinji, mainly because of the tone Sachiel had taken with it. If he hadn't known better, he'd say he sounded… sorrowful. Shinji shifted uncomfortably, unsure of how to react.

He decided to answer. "It's… hard to describe," he began, voice small, "I felt something tugging at me from all around at first, then… they sent me up t-to fight… you." Shinji took a deep breath before continuing. "It was awful." Was that bitterness leaking in? "I hated it."

_"I'm sorry."_

Shinji blinked in confusion. "Huh?"

Sachiel sighed and looked him in the eyes. _"I'm sorry, alright? I didn't think they'd send a kid to fight me."_

"But… didn't you say you were born during Second Impact?"

_"Yeah…"_

"So you're as old as me, then?"

_"… If you're trying to make a point here, spit it out."_

"Well… doesn't that mean you're a kid, too?"

Sachiel frowned and tapped at his chin, before shaking his head. _"Nah, nope, no way. Totally different."_

"But you just…!"

_"Ya can't measure our lives the same way, dude. That was very lilim-centric of you, Shinji; I expected better from you." _Sachiel smirked at him, voice oozing sarcasm.

Shinji rolled his eyes. "Half the time I wonder if you're just making up words to confuse me."

_"Wouldn't dream of it,"_ Sachiel assured, still smiling. _"Besides, there's no way I'm worse than that ash-huffin' lady out there! Have you heard the crap she's spoutin'? With her 'calibrations' and 'neural scans' and 'metaphysical' whats-its and all that jazz. It's a bunch of bull if you ask me!"_

"If you say so," Shinji replied simply, smile growing on his face.

Sachiel sighed, palming his face. _"For real though, I'm sorry. The point I was _trying _to get to was that I'll be there for now on whenever you get in this thing and help you however I can."_

"You really don't have to… It'd be too much of a bother…"

_"Well, I'm saying I _do _have to," _Sachiel answered. _"I like you, but you can't and shouldn't do all of this alone. Face it; you're stuck with me, come hell or high water. Ya got it?"_

Shinji thought back on the past few days at his words. Being forced to fight at his father's orders, forced to feel his arm getting broken, dumped into an unfamiliar place full of people he didn't know… it all terrified him. He was afraid to reach out to anyone, not only because he didn't want to bother others but also because the very idea made his stomach turn.

Yet there Sachiel was, wearing down his barriers without even realizing it. Something about the little Angel relaxed him, something he couldn't explain. For some reason, the very thing that had tried to kill him had become the closest thing to a friend in his entire life. Funny how things turned out.

Shinji nodded, smile growing. "Got it."

Sachiel gave him a thumbs-up. _"Atta boy!"_

Right then, the comm. link clicked open, allowing Dr. Akagi's voice to announce the beginning of the activation test. Shinji told her that he was ready while Sachiel stayed quiet, resting on his shoulder. The Third Child took a deep breath as Lt. Ibuki's voice echoed through the chamber.

_"First stage connection initiated."_

The entry plug began to hum, which was followed by a barrage of colors briefly blinding the two occupants. Startled, Sachiel looked around and frowned, placing a hand on his core.

_"Connecting main power."_

The colors washed away, revealing the testing chamber from Unit 01's perspective. Directly ahead was a small panel of glass, behind which tiny figures hovered over computers.

_"Commencing secondary contacts. A-10 connection: nominal."_

Shinji felt a buzzing sensation that quickly faded where the A-10 clips rested on his head. Sachiel's expression grew more and more pensive as the test continued. He was feeling something coming from all around him, almost as if…

_"Set the thought configuration to Japanese. All preliminary connections established."_

… as if there was another soul in there with them.

_"Bi-directional circuits are open."_

Sachiel's eyes widened as what was undeniably the Light of a Soul called out to him from below. But something about it was different. It wasn't _quite _like his own, or like that of the lilim, for that matter. Regardless, it had _sensed him_, and was calling out.

_"Synchronization rate holding at forty-four point six percent_,_" _Lt. Ibuki declared.

As Dr. Akagi started to talk with Shinji about ending the activation test, Sachiel wracked his incorporeal brain over what would happen if he _answered_.


	3. Chapter 3: First Encounters

In a bland white room that smelled thickly of sterility, a small girl with blue hair, red eyes, and skin white as snow stared at a ceiling that was becoming quite familiar. Bandages covered her right eye and arm, and, left utterly alone, could only sit and think.

_Why… did he save me? I am too damaged to be of use, so surely my death would only help further the Scenario._

Unfortunately, her thoughts were of matters most would consider… unhealthy.

_And death is… is that what I want? Yes. No, it is what is after that I want. The nothingness. Surely he knows that._

She remembered him, his cries of anguish as his hands burned, his panicked voice calling her name, the… relief, yes, that was it was called, on his face when he had laid eyes on her. The man had whispered "Thank goodness", but she did not understand.

What had been the point of it all?

_I was a failure_, Rei thought with not a trace of bitterness, _Shouldn't that mean I should be replaced?_

Deep in the bowels of Terminal Dogma, there were dozens of exact replacements meant for just such an occasion. That had been drilled in her countless times by both Dr. Akagi and the Commander himself. "If you die, you can be replaced" is what they had said.

_So why did you not let me die?_

The fourteen year old girl took a deep breath, her chest shakily rising and falling. Confusion whirled in her head, unable to understand herself. She wanted to die, but why? Why was she so sure? What was it about this place that made her feel this way? Should she ask _him_ what was wrong with her?

With questions raging in her mind, the pale girl sat expressionless and alone.

-0-

**Chapter 3: First Encounters of the Rei Kind**

-0-

_"So… something is _totally_ up with the hot chick."_

"Mmph?" Shinji thoughtfully inquired with a mouthful of noodles dripping from his lips. The two of them had just gotten back home from the tests sans Misato, who had been forced to stay behind by Ritsuko to talk over the results. Shinji had just cooked himself some dinner after feeding Pen Pen. The Hot Springs Penguin himself was now lounging in the family room, sipping a beer and watching a game show.

_"Like, her soul feels different,"_ Sachiel continued, _"Can't you feel it?"_

Shinji gulped down what remained of his food and wiped his mouth while shaking his head. "Not really, no. I mean, I feel warm when it's on, like… comforted, I guess is the right way of putting it. Is that what you mean?"

Sachiel shook his head, folding his arms. _"Nope. Maybe it was a long shot, seeing as it looks like you humans can't even sense Souls in the first place. Regardless, when I felt it, it reminded a lot of the presence that drew me here when I was alive."_

"Presence… you mean the Progenitors?" Shinji asked before taking a sip of water.

_"Bingo," _Sachiel confirmed, _"Whatever she is, she's connected to the Black Progenitor. I'm not sure why I didn't feel that when I fought you, though… maybe I had to be connected with you to feel it?"_

"Whoa, hold on a second here," Shinji started, eyes widening slightly. "The Black one… you said that's the Angel-"

_"Not an Angel, dude. Way more powerful."_

"… Okay, that's the _thing_ that humans descended from, right? You called her Lilith, I think?"

_"Yupper-doodle."_

"So Unit 01… is Lilith?"

Sachiel pondered that for a moment, finger tapping his chin before eventually frowning. _"Hm, not quite. More like a shadow of her. I'm not sure yet, to be honest. But that's not the weirdest part."_

Shinji tilted his head at the little Angel inquisitively.

_"I think… I think she _sensed _me. And was calling out to me," _Sachiel slowly stated.

The Third Child took a deep breath and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"So I'm piloting the billion years old mother of _all life on Earth_ is what you're saying," Shinji muttered, unable to properly express the sheer amount of _what the hell, Dad _in his head.

_"Who also totally has a human soul inside her too, I might add."_ Sachiel hastened to put in.

"Oh. Of course." Shinji groaned and leaned back into his chair. "I'm really starting to think I should've read the fine print when I signed up for this."

"Wark!" Pen Pen offered helpfully from the family room, right before chugging the rest of his beer.

-0-

Another day, another round of tests regarding giant robots, so the common saying went. Much to Sachiel's chagrin, Shinji robotically went along with every request made of him with a slight, passive smile on his face. While the boy had opened up with his thoughts around Sachiel in private, when it came to other people he was just as submissive as ever.

Case in point, when he had gone for a short walk along the Geofront's interior during a brief break between Unit 01 tests. Normally, he would've very likely just sat and waited at testing site, not moving once until he was informed that tests were to resume. This time however, Sachiel, who at that point had gone quite stir-crazy, practically dragged Shinji away simply for a change in scenery.

By some twist of fate, Sachiel had made him wander in the direction of the hospital, leading to a meeting that would normally never have occurred. Shinji walked down the hallways, doing his best to avoid rushing nurses and doctors as meekly as possible, until he spied a certain name on a patient's room doorway.

"Rei… Ayanami…" he muttered softly, saying the words for the first time. Misato had told him her name not long ago, saying she was the First Child.

The girl he had seen the day he was forced to pilot. The girl who was going to be his replacement if he had run away.

_"Hm? You know her?" _Sachiel asked curiously from his spot on Shinji's shoulder.

"Not really," Shinji answered quietly. He figured no one was paying much attention to him as usual, but it didn't hurt to be cautious. He quickly explained the circumstances of their brief meeting to Sachiel. The little Angel frowned when he finished his story.

_"Sending a hurt girl out to fight? That's a scummy move right there," _Sachiel shook his head before looking back up at Shinji. _"So you're gonna talk to her, right?"_

The boy did a double-take at that. "Whu-?"

_"Oh, don't play dummy with me, bucko," _Sachiel chided, _"I can tell ya like her just by the way your face gets super pinky when you talk about her!"_

"I-I don't know w-what you're talking about!" Shinji hastily sputtered, desperately trying to both hide his blushing face and keep his voice down at the same time.

Sachiel rolled his eyes. _"Dude, come on. You got a few more minutes to kill, don't ya? A couple minutes is all I'm asking. What's the worst that could happen?"_

_She could hate me, _Shinji immediately thought, _She still got hurt because of me being a coward. I'd be better off never talking to her._

"… Let's just go," he muttered instead, already starting to walk off.

_"Oh no you don't!" _Sachiel whirled over in Shinji's face. _"You're just gonna leave a poor girl all alone like that?! Hurting in some stupid box with no one to talk to?!"_

That gave Shinji pause.

_"I'm just saying, there's no harm in it. I broke your arm and stabbed you in the eye. What's she gonna do that's so much worse?"_

Shinji looked down and grumbled something inaudible. Sachiel leaned forward.

_"Say again?"_

"… I said fine…"

_"Atta boy!" _Sachiel cheered, whooping as he flew in circles around Shinji. _"Now c'mon, I'll even feed ya lines in case you get nervous! You got nothing to fear when Sach's got your back!"_

And so, with trembling hands, Shinji knocked on the door.

-0-

Rei was preoccupied with mastering the art of staring at ceilings when she heard a knock on her door.

"Um, hello?" came a meek voice from the other side. "A-ayanami? It's me, S-shinji Ikari. We met a couple days ago?"

Startled by this sudden deviation from the norm, Rei decided to fall back to an old favorite of hers when it came to social encounters: staying totally silent and off-putting.

-0-

_"Just walk in, dude."_

"What?! No, that's really rude…"

_"If she wants you to get out she'll say so, ya dingus! Now walk in there already!"_

"Fine…"

-0-

The Third Child stepped inside, as Rei had suspected the voice had belonged to. The Commander's son fidgeted nervously at the doorway, doing everything to avoid eye contact. That was fine by her; she hadn't bothered to make eye contact in the first place.

"So… how are you?" he asked, shuffling about on his feet.

"…"

"Right, still hurt, obviously. Stupid question. Um…"

The two stared in each other's general directions, but not directly at one another, as the seconds stretched on.

"Well…" Shinji continued onward, "I knew that you were hurt badly, so I thought… maybe, I dunno, just wanted to see how you were doing. Is all."

He kept flexing his right hand over and over, she noted. Silently.

He coughed. "Um, when do you get checked out of here?"

"Why are you here?"

The question startled him, but whether it was because of the question itself or the fact that she had spoken at all was up in the air.

"Because you were hurt?" he offered slowly, unsure of how to answer. "I mean, you were hurt before, but then you got hurt more when we… met… So I just wanted to see if you were feeling better. Yeah."

"…"

Shinji's head tilted slightly to the right, as if he were listening to someone else. Then, he took a deep breath and pressed on.

"I just… didn't want you to be alone when you're like this. I know I don't k-know you that well, b-but… we're gonna be working together a lot, right? So we should… you know, care about each other. If I can do something to help you, I'll try my best. So… yeah."

Rei was getting very confused. The Third Child shouldn't be caring about her in the least. They were to work side-by-side, yes, but in no way did that entail a closer relationship of any kind. That ever elusive _why_ continued to nag at her.

She did not like it when things nagged at her. They were… distracting.

At her continued silence, Shinji sighed. "Well… I need to get back to Dr. Akagi now. Um… sorry for disturbing you, Ayanami."

Rei's gaze followed Shinji out, continuing to stare in the direction of the doorway even after he left.

_He… cares?_

Two faces appeared in her mind's eye. One was the face of the boy who had just left, concern on his youthful face. The other was the Commander's, relief relaxing his normally stoic and tense features. The two were remarkably similar in not only appearance but also the strange, warm feeling they left inside her.

_Perhaps… they are alike?_

-0-

_"Yo, Shinji."_

"Hm?" Shinji shook his head to wake himself up. After seeing Rei, the two had gone right back to tests that had lasted over two hours. Sachiel had been strangely quiet for most of the time, not even voicing his complaints once while they sat in the entry plug. Shinji had been worried something was wrong with his little friend, but decided against asking about it.

_"Something is up with that chick," _Sachiel declared.

"Who?"

_"That Rei Ayanami girl."_

"Oh." Shinji was inclined to agree, but he never liked saying something mean about anyone. "How do you mean?"

_"I'm getting a strange vibe from her, a vibe I shouldn't be getting from a human,"_ Sachiel clarified, rubbing his chin in thought.

The Third Child gave him a _look_.

_"Hey, what's that look for?!"_

"The last time you said something like that, you told me Unit 01 was the mother of all life on Earth."

_"Hey, I said she was the _shadow_ of the mother of all life on Earth! HUGE difference! But, uh…" _Sachiel chuckled nervously, _"It's funny now that you mention it…"_

Shinji took a long and deep sigh, fortifying himself for-

_"That Rei girl _totally _has some Black Progenitor in her."_

-that, but it helped absolutely zilch.

"What." was all Shinji could manage.

_"Now hear me out! The way I'm reading it, her soul is _the exact same_ as the Black Progenitor. The only way that's possible is that she _is _the Black Progenitor."_

"… Okay. To make this clear: you're saying that Rei Ayanami, my fellow pilot and a fourteen-year old girl, is a billions-year old alien responsible for the creation of all life on Earth."

_"Yupper-doodle."_

Shinji groaned and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"I don't believe this."

_"Well ya better, bucko, cuz it's the truth!"_

"Didn't you say Unit 01 was this Progenitor thing just yesterday?"

Sachiel shook his head vigorously, before pausing to ponder that for a moment. Then he shrugged. _"Kinda sorta? This sexy thing we're in right now is of the Black Progenitor's flesh, that's for darn sure, but it's _soul _is undoubtedly human. Rei's got the opposite deal; her flesh is human, but her soul is Lilith."_

Shinji felt like his mind should be reeling with all of the earth-shattering revelations Sachiel was throwing at him with the same casualness that one might comment on the weather. Perhaps he should have been reduced to a gibbering wreck with all of this nonsense about ancient aliens and giant robots/monsters/_whatever_ having human souls.

Instead, he just took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and leaned back into his seat. Bottling things up had always worked in the past.

A few minutes dragged by in silence, until Sachiel hovered closer to Shinji. _"Hey man, whatcha thinking about?"_

The Third Child shrugged. "Nothing."

A bald-faced lie, but Sachiel let it slide. _"Well, I've been thinking… about that Rei girl…"_

Shinji was about ready to scream. Again. "What about her?" he asked slowly.

_"You should try and be friends with her!"_

Shinji looked at his Angelic friend like he'd grown three heads. Which at this point he'd actually accept as something that could happen.

"… Why?"

_"Look, it doesn't take a genius to see that she's lonely. And I think what you said really got to her."_

He thought back to what he'd said and immediately blushed from embarrassment. "I didn't really say all that much…"

_"You kidding me?! Sure she didn't say much but she was totally eating it up! Honestly, I don't think anyone's been that nice to her before."_

Shinji frowned, expression growing thoughtful. Could Ayanami be more like him than he'd first believed? "Do you really think so?"

Sachiel nodded. _"I'd bet my Core on it."_

Come to think of it, Shinji hadn't seen anything like flowers or "Get well!" cards, things you'd expect for someone sent to the hospital. Ayanami's room had been completely barren save for the bare minimum, with not even the TV turned on simply to provide background noise. There was only her, sitting alone in silence.

He understood how that felt.

"Maybe…" Shinji started, nodding to himself. "Maybe you're right. But didn't you say she was also the Black Progenitor? Doesn't that make her, like, an alien?"

_"So what?" _Sachiel responded simply. _"You already hang out with the ghost of a giant that wanted to wipe out all of life on Earth and replace it with his own. How much weirder is it for you hang out with an alien that _started _all life on Earth?"_

Well, when he put it that way…

"Okay," Shinji conceded, finally giving a firm nod. "I can do that."

The thought terrified him almost as much as it excited him.

-0-

Unfortunately, Sunday had quickly come to a close and with it, Shinji's break from school. The poor boy was now neck deep in the huge stack of homework Misato had provided for him, doing his best to catch up before school started proper. When he'd received said stack, the conversation went something like this:

"Wait, I haven't been missing any school, so why do I have to do all this?!"

" Commander's orders. He said you need to be appropriately prepared for your new school's studies. Sorry, Shinji!"

Misato then promptly began guzzling down her third can of Yebisu, putting a swift and decisive end to that conversation.

And so, with Sachiel hovering over his shoulder and constantly asking questions about his homework, Shinji was diligently doing what he was told with no small amount of bitterness.

_I'm starting to think Father does certain things only to make me suffer._

_"Wait, so the _small _intestine is six meters long, but the _large_ intestine is only one point five_ _meters long? How does that even make sense?!"_

Shinji took a deep breath and pinched the bridge of his nose. This was going to be a _long_ year.

-0-

It was finally time for Shinji's first day of school, and he was determined to make it as uninteresting as possible.

_"Awwww, why can't I come?"_

Unfortunately for Sachiel, that meant he couldn't tag along.

"I'd prefer not to be called insane for talking to the voices in my head," Shinji dryly explained. "Maybe if you promise to be quiet, you can come later, but today I need to do this alone."

_"Hmph, fine." _Sachiel pouted, folding his arms. _"But what do you expect me to do all day?!"_

Shinji shrugged unsympathetically. "You know how to use the TV and the Internet. Or explore the city. You'll find something."

_"Stone cold, Shinji Ikari. Stone. Cold."_

Regardless, Sachiel complied, which meant Shinji's first day would be blissfully free of weirdness. The Third Child was starting to feel like days like that would be few and far between from now on. Still, he did feel a little guilty forcing Sachiel to stay at home while he was out and about. Perhaps he would let him tag along tomorrow, even if keeping the little Angel a secret would no doubt prove a difficult ordeal.

But that would be future-Shinji's problem to deal with. Right now, present-Shinji needed to figure out where the heck class 2-A was…

"All these hallways look the same…" he quietly muttered as he meandered through the school, carefully doing his best not to get any unwanted attention from the students bustling around him.

"Excuse me, do you need help?" asked a light, feminine voice behind him.

Shinji turned around to see the concerned face of a girl around his age. Twin brown pigtails dangled from her head, and freckles were scattered across her cheeks and nose.

"Um, yes. I'm trying to find class 2-A, do you where that may be?"

A brilliant smile lit the girl's face, causing Shinji to blush slightly. "Oh, you're the new transfer student, right? Shinji Ikari? You're in luck! I'm Hikari Horaki, the class representative of 2-A!"

She took his hand and gave it a firm shake. "It's a pleasure to meet you!"

Shinji's blush deepened as he scratched the back of his head. "L-likewise."

-0-

While the Third Child was busy sitting through the pinnacle of higher learning that junior high school, the Third Angel was acquainting himself with the pinnacle of entertainment that was daytime weekday television.

_"We're sorry, but the correct answer was 'Honey badger'! Better lu-"_

Click.

_"-eel like this orange is _too _orange, you feel me? But, like, _this _orange over he-"_

Click.

_"And so begins the emperor penguins' mating season, an affair that starts with…"_

"Wark! Wark!"

Sachiel quirked an eyebrow at the suddenly-excitable penguin. Pen Pen was practically _drooling_, pink tongue dangling from his beak. The Angel pondered swapping the channel again, but eventually just shrugged and decided to keep it on this "Animal Planet" documentary, for no real reason other than it seemed to make the penguin happy. He couldn't for the un-life of him see what was so great about it, though; those fat birds were just rubbing their crotches on each other's butts!

_"I think I'm starting to regret this decision," _Sachiel declared as he watched two penguins vigorously hump each other.

-0-

"I'm home!" Shinji cheerfully greeted the apartment as he stepped inside, unplugging his earbuds with an easy-going smile on his face.

_"Yo!" _came the response from inside. His ghostly friend zipped over to him as Shinji made his way to the kitchen. _"So how was your first day of school?"_

Shinji shrugged, setting his bag on a chair before starting to make some tea. "Fine, I guess."

Sachiel gave him a blank look and rolled his eyes. _"Booo~oooring. C'mon man, I've been sitting around watching birds hump all day, you gotta give something juicy!"_

"I'm… going to pretend I didn't catch that." Shinji sighed as he heated the water.

_"Make any new friends?" _Sachiel pressed, hovering over his shoulder, partly to bother him and partly because he was genuinely curious about what he was doing. _"Ya meet any cuties?"_

Shinji's cheeks flushed slightly. "Well, I suppose…" A freckled face smiling at him flashed in his mind.

_"Aww, what'shername, what'shername?" _the little Angel asked excitedly, practically buzzing beside him. _"You sweep her off her feet with the ol' tried and true 'Hey babe, I beat up giant monsters with the hot momma of all life on Earth. We'll bang, okay?'"_

It was approximately two seconds afterward when Misato walked in to see Shinji apparently trying to strangle thin air. She stopped in her tracks and simply stared at her charge for a few seconds, calculating. Then, she coughed, causing Shinji to freeze up and slowly turn to face her, eyes wide as saucers. Misato giggled at his best deer-in-headlights impression.

"Um," the Third Child eloquently started, hands still clasped around the throat of some invisible offender. "I can explain."

"Teachers really that annoying, huh?" came the unexpected reply.

"Um." Blink. "Huh?"

Bomber jacket already tossed on top of Shinji's bag, Misato waved dismissively and threw him an understanding smile as she plopped into a chair. "There's definitely been a few times where I've wanted to strangle teachers myself, _especially_ that one time when…"

Shinji did his best to listen to her tirade, he really did, but he'd learned a while ago that this strange woman that was his guardian _sometimes_ said things that were better off forgotten, so instead he loosened his grip on Sachiel's incorporeal throat and finished preparing his tea.

"…shove a stapler up his ass, but that's beside the point. Anyway, so long as you don't act on it then it's no biggy, understood?"

Quickly realizing she'd asked him a question that he hadn't heard, Shinji defaulted on the first answer that came to his head that was least likely to lead to confrontation. "Um… yes?"

Misato nodded, firmly believing that she'd done enough parenting for the day. She raised a hand and promptly commanded, "Beer me."

"You really should stop drinking these in the middle of the day, Misato," Shinji chided. However, he still complied, fetching a can of Yebisu from the fridge.

After he handed it to her, Misato took a big slurp before going, "I'm sorry, did you say something, Mister My-Awesome-And-Beautiful-Guardian-Was-Generous-Enough-To-Ignore-Me-Choking-Air?"

Pausing just to make sure he heard her very clunky question correctly, he sighed and sat down. "Point."

Misato nodded. "Damn right." Another chug. "Anyway, how was your first day of school?"

Shinji sipped at his tea and shrugged. "Fine, I guess."

_"You are just the worst." _Sachiel groused beside him.

"Aw, come on," Misato pouted. "I'm sure _something_ was special about your first day!"

"Not really, no."

"Make any friends? Oh, did you get to at least talk to some cuties?!"

Keenly aware of how this exact same line of conversation went with Sachiel, he did his best to hide the resulting blush. Unfortunately, Misato was far sharper than that.

Face lighting up, she grinned widely as she leaned forward. "Aw, that's so sweet, Shinji's already found a girl! How'd ya ring her in? You pulled the pilot card, didn't ya? Because I'm telling you, nothing gets a girl going quite like a guy in charge of a giant robot. Get's her going like… _sploosh_!" Misato helpfully pantomimed just exactly what she meant by _sploosh_, that cheeky grin never leaving her face.

_I hate everything_, was Shinji's only coherent thought as he face planted the table. Sachiel gleefully snickered at his friend's suffering.

This was going to be a _long _year.


	4. Chapter 4: Those Early Days

"So you promise to be good?"

_"Sheesh, how many times do I gotta say it?! I promise to be good!"_

"No talking in class?"

_"Nope."_

"No messing with other people's stuff?"

_"Whaddaya take me for, Gaghiel?"_

"I don't even know who that is."

_"Hmph, you're no fun. Fine, fine, I won't mess with other people's stuff!"_

"Just making sure there's no loopholes for you to exploit."

_"Oh ye of little faith. Cross my Core and hope to die! Does that satisfy you?"_

"… you're already dead, though."

_"Oh no, you saw through my clever ruse!"_

A long, drawn-out sigh. "I'm going to regret this, aren't I?"

_"C'mon buddy, what's the worst that could happen?"_

"…"

_"… what, did I say something wrong?"_

-0-

**Chapter 4: Those Early Days**

-0-

The Commander of NERV was typically incredibly busy, which hardly came as a surprise; when one runs a clandestine military organization created specifically to defeat giant aliens, one's schedule tends to get bogged up. Still, the orange-spectacled man somehow made time to check up on Rei every day, much to the chagrin of a certain doctor.

Gendo Ikari had walked into the hospital room like he always had, without announcing himself and to Rei's consistent lack of surprise. As usual, he had asked how she was, to which she would typically respond with a bland "Agreeable."

Such did not occur this time.

"I am… perplexed," Rei admitted, looking away from him.

While caught off-guard, you wouldn't know it by looking at Gendo. The only indication was the slight quirking of an eyebrow before it quickly righted itself back to the Commander's patented Stoic Face.

"In what way?" he asked, keeping his tone neutral.

"It is the Third Child. He has made an unnecessary action to visit me and see how I fare, stating that we should 'care about each other' because we are both pilots. I do not understand."

Neither did Gendo, though he would never admit it. Everything about the boy's development before coming to Tokyo-3 should have clearly led to a meek child that avoided human contact whenever possible. Gendo was more than satisfied to see how predictable the child had been during the Third Angel's attack, and it left him with the confidence that that one particular aspect of the Scenario had been fulfilled.

Nothing had indicated that the Third Child would actually go out of his way to visit Rei. Despite himself, Gendo frowned slightly. Perhaps he should have put more stock in mankind's maddening habit of acting outside of expectations from time to time.

"I see." That was all he said in response. Rei looked at him, expression unchanging, but he knew that she wanted him to explain everything. He blinked, and it was Yui's face staring back at him. Another blink, and it was Rei's. He took a deep breath and turned away.

And he began to see how this could benefit the Scenario.

"The Third Child is looking for comfort, of a sort," he said.

_Plant the seed for now. It will make the order easier for her to follow through on later._

"Comfort?" Rei said, testing the word out as if she were saying it for the first time.

Gendo was utterly still. "He has led a life with no friends or family to provide such a thing, so it is only natural that he'd latch onto someone whom he sees as a kindred spirit."

_That should be satisfactory. Elaboration can come later._

"The doctors say you will be free to leave in four days' time," he coldly stated before Rei could say anything else. At that, he left without another word.

As he reflected on the latest deviations from the Scenario, Gendo didn't notice that his gloved hands had balled into fists.

-0-

The bell rang, finally signaling the end of Shinji's second day of school.

_"Sheesh, and you say you people are supposed to _learn _in this dung heap? All that teacher does is drone on and on about when Dad woke up! I mean, sure he accidentally killed a lot of people, raised the sea level, and outright annihilated an entire continent, but that was one time, people! One time!"_

Shinji took a long-suffering sigh, the latest in what was rapidly becoming a habit these days. It hadn't taken long for Sachiel to break his promise on not speaking in class, at first idly commenting on Shinji's classmates. But then that devolved into a one-sided shouting match with the teacher.

"Sachiel," the Third Child whispered as he began packing his books away, when he was sure the other students weren't within earshot.

_"Hm?"_

"Could you please hold off on the rants until _after_ we get home?" Shinji asked, trying not to let too much frustration leak into his voice. He didn't want Sachiel think he was actually mad at him, because he really did enjoy the Angel's commentary, but it tended to be… distracting.

Surprisingly, the little Angel nodded and shrugged his tiny bony shoulders. _"Yeah, I gotcha. I just wanted to say _something_, I was going nutty doing nothing. … Sorry I broke your rule, though."_ Sachiel sheepishly rubbed the back of his head.

"Oh, um, it's fine," Shinji quickly said, clearly unused to having others apologize to him. "We can talk more about school once we head home, alright?"

_"Actually, I was thinking we should just go ahead and meet up with Rei," _Sachiel suggested.

"Uh…"

_"You know, since you totally promised me that you would talk to her more."_

"Right…" Shinji said quietly, idly scratching at his chin as he began to make his way out of the classroom. True, he had promised, but such things were easier said than done…

"Hold up!" Hikari called out to the departing students, waving two folders full of papers in her hand from the front of the room. "Does anyone know plan on seeing Ayanami or Suzuhara today? I've got their coursework here and it needs to be delivered to them."

Seizing the opportunity, Sachiel zoomed right in front of Hikari and shouted, _"Oh, Shinji will! Send him!"_

"Wait, hold on-!" Shinji shouted, panicking before immediately realizing his blunder.

The Class Rep's brown eyes darted over to Shinji, clearly surprised that he had spoken up at all. "Oh, thanks, Ikari!" She smiled pleasantly as she handed him the folders. Even though he was mentally kicking himself, Shinji couldn't help but notice that he liked her smile. "This helps me a lot."

"Um. Sure thing," was all Shinji could say as she waved him goodbye.

-0-

"That was just uncalled for, Sachiel."

_"Aw, I know you're not _really _upset by that," _the little Angel noted, idly laying down on Shinji's shoulder and looking up at the clear blue sky. _"Besides, nothin' wrong with a little friendly push here or there."_

"Hm," Shinji grunted, clearly indicating he thought otherwise. "At least I know where Ayanami is, but this 'Toji Suzuhara' guy is a total stranger! I feel kind of awkward just delivering something to him without even knowing him..."

_"Well, all you gotta do is deliver it, right? It's not like you gotta be all buddy-buddy with the guy."_

"Maybe." Still, doubt clouded his mind. Everything about his life up until now had reinforced his philosophy of keeping to himself, never speaking out and keeping others at a distance, both for his sake and theirs. It was just safer that way.

From his shoulder, Sachiel sighed. _"Anyway, might as well get it to Rei while we're out. If you really don't wanna deliver it to that Suzuhara guy, you could always say something came up to that girl from earlier."_

"No, I said I would, so I will," Shinji said, clearly resigned to his fate. He'd just have to make it quick, is all. "I'll have to look up his house on the directory, though."

_"Atta boy!"_

-0-

_Knock knock._

"Hey, um, Ayanami?" Shinji paused at the door, anxiously fidgeting where he stood. "Um, may I come in?"

Silence from the other side. Shinji sighed and moved to turn away. "She's probably asleep, let's just go-"

"Come in."

The voice was so soft, he almost didn't hear it. He gasped, but beside him Sachiel smiled.

_"Well go on, don't keep the lady waiting!" _Sachiel encouraged, nudging his friend's shoulder. _"Also, try not to be rude to her, considering she's, ya know, the momma of all life on the planet. No pressure."_

"Yeah, thanks," Shinji whispered sarcastically before opening the door. Rei was sat up in her bed, staring outside at the Geofront interior. Were it not for the fresh bandages that covered her pale body, he would've thought she hadn't moved at all since he last saw her.

He waited for her to turn and face him. She didn't. The seconds crawled by, the awkwardness of the silence stretching on far longer than it should have.

_"Cripes, I've been alive for like five days and I already have more social grace than this one."_

Ignoring the little Angel on his shoulder, Shinji coughed. "U-um, well, hi. Oh, right!" He reached into his book bag, producing a yellow folder. "Class Rep wanted me to deliver these to you!"

Finally, Rei turned, looking at him with a single red eye. "I see," she stated. Other than that, she didn't move.

"Uh, I guess I'll just leave these here then," Shinji said, setting the folder down on the nightstand next to her. "So, how've you been?"

"Nothing has changed since you last visited."

"I suppose not," Shinji laughed nervously, idly scratching at his cheek. He looked around and noted that it was true; there were still no flowers, no decorations, no "Get Well!" cards, nothing to provide even the slightest bit of emotional support or entertainment for a bedridden girl left all alone.

For some reason, the scene reminded him of a little boy left crying at the train station, and a tall and dark figure walking away.

"Hey, Ayanami…" he found himself saying. _What am I doing? _"What do you like?"

Sachiel glanced at him with a raised eyebrow.

If the First Child was surprised by his seemingly-random question, she did a good job of hiding it. "Like?"

"Yeah, something you enjoy."

"… Enjoyment. That is the word to describe when you feel warm, correct?"

"I suppose…" It was a pretty vague way of defining it, if you asked Shinji, but he'd take what he could get. "Yeah, something like that."

"I am not sure."

"Well, what do you do every day?"

"Sit here," Rei replied, and Shinji could've sworn her tone _somehow_ got drier than usual when she did.

Sachiel snickered beside him, and it took all of Shinji's willpower not to glare at him. "No, I mean when you're not here," he said, trying to keep the exasperation out of his voice. "Like, if you're at home and have nothing to do, what do you do with your free time?"

Rei took a moment to consider.

"I read," she finally answered.

"Well, that's something," Shinji said, smiling. "So you like to read?"

She turned her gaze back to the window, hiding her face. "I do not know."

_"Ya know, if I didn't already know she was the Black Progenitor, I'd say she was deliberately being obtuse," _Sachiel sighed.

Shinji sent him a questioning look.

_"Look, she's _obviously _had a development period way different than the average human at her age, if what I've gathered from watching the kids at your school is any indication," _Sachiel explained, gesturing toward Rei, _"I'm gettin' the feeling she wasn't… ah, what's the word? Habilitized? Habilitated? Whatever, ya get my drift. She wasn't habilitized for life as a human, but she's stuck in a human body so she doesn't know what to do or how to describe her feelings. Hell, she probably doesn't even know when she's thinking like a Progenitor or a human!"_

Shinji frowned and looked over at the pale, bandaged girl who was still staring out the window.

_"Or I could be wrong and she's totally just giving you the cold shoulder cuz you won't leave her alone."_

At the Third Child's glare, Sachiel backed off and waved his hands defensively. _"Hey man, I'm just saying it's a possibility!"_

Shinji 's face softened, and his shoulders sagged. Sachiel had a point, either way. How could he even begin to try and be friends with the freaking alien that _birthed all life on Earth?! _Where'd he get off thinking he could do something nuts like that? Talk with a being that was billions of years older than him? Than the entire human race?

He'd never had a friend in his life, so why would he have one now?

_"Hey." _A tiny nudge on his shoulder. Sachiel floated into his downcast vision. _"Cheer up, bucko. There's a girl here that's waiting for ya to say something."_

… Maybe he did have at least one, now.

Shinji looked up again at Rei. She was no longer staring out the window, instead facing him once more. The girl looked so fragile, as if a slight breeze would make her drift away. He felt the sudden and strong urge to hold her tight, lest she might disappear forever. Still, there was something in her uncovered eye, something barely visible beneath the red.

And, maybe, he could have another.

"Well," Shinji started to say, a smile slowly crossing his face, "I guess I'll get you a book or two, then."

Little else was said after that. Rei simply nodded and, after promising to come back tomorrow, Shinji and Sachiel left. The rest of the day passed by uneventfully, with the two stopping by the Suzuhara household on the way back home. When no one seemed to answer the door after multiple doorbell rings, Shinji simply put the folder in their mailbox and headed back the apartment, silently relieved his day was at an end.

-0-

"What're you playing at, Ikari? I saw the tapes of your discussion with Rei earlier."

"What of it?" Gendo asked, moving his bishop forward. The two men sat in a poorly-lit room somewhere within the bowels of the Geofront, a simple chessboard between them. For all intents and purposes, it looked like a Serious Place where Serious Things happened.

"I don't recall talking to her about the Third Child in such a way coming up so soon in your precious 'Scenario'," Fuyutsuki accused. His eyes were firmly set on the board before him. Ikari had him locked down. Again. Bastard. And a lot had been on the line for this game, too.

"The Third Child showed an unprecedented interest in her right away," Gendo said, hiding the smirk at the Vice Commander's sigh of defeat. "Nothing in his behavioral reports indicated he would take such an action."

_Perhaps it's because he saw something familiar in her_, Fuyutsuki mused, though he dared not say it aloud. Instead he moved a pawn back and leaned into his chair, clearly resigned to his fate. "That is true. But why tell her that he's seeking comfort? Doesn't that seem counterproductive?"

"Not at all." The knight moved in, removing the pawn from the board. Nothing stood between him and the king now. "In time, the two of them will form a connection that will only reinforce their loyalty to NERV."

"Hm. Care to elaborate?" He didn't bother making another move.

"In time, Professor, in time." From behind his orange glasses, Gendo glanced down at the board. "I believe that's game. I'll have one large, with mapo tofu, onion, and sausage."

"Yeah, yeah, you're paying next time, bastard." Fuyutsuki grumbled, already dialing the number and bringing out his wallet. "Wait, do they even_ put_ mapo tofu on pizza?"

"I'm sure if you mention my name, they'll find that they do."

"You know, Ikari, you're really not helping the fact that the UN keeps yelling at us for pretty much turning Tokyo-3 into your own little fiefdom."

"Yes, well, once they have their own Evas, maybe I'll listen to them."

"I don't think I've ever heard you this petulant before."

"I am hungry."

-0-

The next day, after school came and went and he'd gone to the book store, Shinji found that he had made a critical error.

"I completely forgot to ask her what genre she likes," he groaned, head hanging despondently. "I'm such an idiot."

Rows of bookshelves surrounded him on all sides, intimidating him with their vast array of tomes that spanned damn near every genre out there. He'd thought that finding such a small shop in the old part of town would make things simpler and his choice easier, but such was not the case. As it was, the almost-labyrinthine confines of the bookstore were almost too much for him to handle. He half-expected the Minotaur to come bursting out the moment he lost track of where he was.

_"You're probably over-thinking this," _Sachiel commented. The ghostly Angel was hovering at the shelf labeled "Relationship Advice", which was already making Shinji suspicious. _"Just pick something and see if she likes it. You can always get another one, bro."_

"That'd be a bit embarrassing, though," Shinji said. Sachiel just grunted in response and continued perusing. "Hm… maybe in the sci-fi section…"

He wandered to the next row over and leaned down to peer at the books. A lot of them looked old, and had goofy illustrations of little green men and other debatably-realistic interpretations of how aliens might've looked. He was about to pass right over them, but paused when he reconsidered them.

"Well, I guess she _is_ an alien. Kind of. Maybe she'd like something like that?" Shinji mumbled to himself. He grabbed one at random, a musty paperback novel. The creature on the cover made him a little uneasy; a giant red bat-thing with a human's face, standing menacingly over a pair of people in spacesuits fleeing before it.

"Eh, maybe not that one," he said, quickly replacing it. He kept flipping through different books, but nothing seemed to stand out. Everything there was just really old and cheesy pulp novels written over fifty years ago, hardly something that would entertain a fourteen-year-old girl, let alone an entity as old as life on Earth.

_"Hey Shinji! I totally struck gold!" _Sachiel zoomed to his side, clutching a book close to his tiny chest. _"Apparently this thingy's got tons of info on how to woo your gal pal. Check it out!"_

He excitedly thrust it into Shinji's hands, who almost dropped it at the sudden motion.

After seeing the subject matter, he almost dropped it again.

"S-S-Sachiel!" he squealed, his face swiftly becoming beet-red. "Put that back right now!"

_"Eh? Why?"_

"It's the _Karma Sutra_, that's why!"

_"That name supposed to mean something to me? Just take a looksie, it's got all these neat pictures and everything! Here, lemme show ya…"_

"Sachiel, that's-" Shinji stopped himself, realizing he was shouting in a bookstore, and looked back towards the front. The only other person there was the man at the counter, who seemed to have been sound asleep. Lowering his voice, he continued. "_Please _put it back, okay? I feel dirty just holding it."

_"Hmph, fiiiiiine,"_ Sachiel whined, floating off with the book full of _bad pictures_. _"Just trying to help is all."_

"I really doubt something like _that _would help me or Ayanami out," Shinji sighed, rubbing his sweaty palms on his pants. "Ugh, this is becoming more trouble than it's worth…"

_"Hey man, don't sweat it," _Sachiel consoled, _"You can always just ask her what she reads. Hell, that'd give you two another thing to talk about, and Dad knows you need more of those."_

"Maybe." Shinji checked his watch and sighed again. "Well, if we don't see her now it'll be late when we get home. I feel bad not getting her anything, though…"

_"Meh, it's not like you set an exact time for it, right? Besides, I kinda doubt she'll be torn up about it."_

"That's true." They made their way to the front. "Ayanami seems like a very strong person."

_"What makes you say that?"_

Shinji shrugged, waiting to respond until after they got outside. The sun was starting to fall in the west, not quite setting. A rush of hot air engulfed him as he stepped onto the sidewalk, the sound of cicadas filling his ears. "I'm not sure, to be honest. She just strikes me as someone with a lot on her shoulders, I guess."

_"Hm." _Evidently sick of flying, Sachiel plopped down on Shinji's shoulder. _"Well, that makes sense. You two _are _supposed to save the world."_

"That's right, isn't it?" Shinji mused, flexing his left hand. He'd been avoiding thinking about that, for obvious reasons, but he knew he'd have to get back into Unit 01 and pilot it again. He'd have to fight and get hurt _again_. But why did he have to fight? It wasn't like Sachiel was a bad person, and from how he described it the Angels just wanted to survive. Did they really have to fight?

_**Bzzzt!**_

"Ow!" Shinji cried, jerking his hand back. Did something just sting him, or…

Sachiel floated up to his face, a tiny, glowing pink spike protruding from his right palm. The spike retracted back into his hand. _"Just waking ya up from your angsting is all," _Sachiel said, a smirk on his face. _"You were thinking about the war, weren't you?"_

Shinji glared at him, rubbing at his hand even though the pain had already faded and hadn't left a mark. "Yeah. I don't see why that was called for, though."

_"Look, I'm just trying to make sure you get too lost in over-thinking things. So you'll be fighting my siblings, so what? You'll kick their asses, just like you did mine. And I'll be there helping ya every step of the way."_

Shinji allowed a small smile at the words, even if he didn't fully believe them. He doubted Sachiel would ever really understand his doubts, even if he vocalized them. He meant well, but it wasn't something easily explained.

At least, so he thought.

_"Now c'mon, let's go chat up Rei!" _Sachiel cheered, pumping a fist in the air. _"Can't have a pretty girl like her feeling lonely!"_

-0-

The next two days followed the same pattern. Shinji attended school, deliberately having as little presence as possible among his classmates and trying not to laugh at Sachiel's colorful commentary. Once he was done there, the two of them would visit Rei and he would try to have a conversation with her. Once that inevitably got awkward (well, more awkward), they'd head home and Shinji would be welcomed by Misato's merciless teasing.

Then the weekend came, and with it came time for Rei's release from the hospital. The First Child hadn't expected much fanfare for the occasion; in fact, she hadn't conceived the notion that it was something worth celebrating in the first place.

Which was why she really, _really _did not know what to make of the current situation.

Instead of the Section-2 escort she'd been told about earlier that week, Misato was at the front of the hospital waiting for her, leaning against the car, with Shinji in tow. Sachiel was there too, but she couldn't have been aware of that, because, you know. Reasons.

It wasn't exactly a full-on, trumpets-blaring, confetti-blasting procession, but it might as well have been to Rei. The mere _idea _that anyone had done something special for her sake was, well, alien to the girl. Not that it showed in her body language, save for the slight widening of her only visible eye.

Shinji waved her over, a nervous smile on his face. "Uh, hi, Ayanami!" he called out. "We, um, that is, Misato's here to take you home. If that's okay?"

Floating by him, Sachiel rolled his eyes. _"Sound less confident, why don't ya?"_

Rei blinked, and tried to read the situation. Her heartbeat was slightly elevated, even though this wasn't a situation that should induce stress. So why? Was this a reaction created due to the extensive interactions she has had with the Third Child over the past week? She'd kept in mind what the Commander had said, about his son seeking comfort through talking to her, but this seemed… more than that.

And it didn't explain that confounded heart-pounding, either.

Instead of asking, of course, Rei simply nodded and walked toward them. Shinji breathed a sigh of relief while Misato stood up.

"All aboard!" the Captain shouted, dramatically opening the door for blunette. Right before Rei stepped inside, Misato leaned forward, whispering conspiratorially, "He's a real sweetheart, isn't he?"

"Sweetheart?" Rei asked. She didn't understand the word in that context. What did sweets have to do with any of this?

Misato snorted, which only confused Rei further, and leaned back, brushing aside her long purple hair. "I guess we'll have to have a girl talk later, huh?"

At that mysterious comment, she left.

Rei had never had any significant human interaction with anyone besides the Commander and Dr. Akagi. The former was always stiff and composed, a wall that was cold yet caring. The latter… treated her like a tool. Which was fine, since Rei was fully aware of her purpose.

However, Ikari and the Captain were vastly different. But why? Surely both were aware that her only use was that of a tool for the Scenario, even if they had a more limited view of it? Was it all for this vague concept of 'comfort'?

_' So we should… you know, care about each other. If I can do something to help you, I'll try my best.'_

Rei sat in the front with the Captain, unaware of the slight frown forming on her own face.

-0-

When they finally reached Rei's apartment complex, Misato narrowed her eyes. Mostly because calling it an "apartment complex" was charitable in the extreme.

"Rei, are you sure this is where you live?" she asked, dubiously eyeing the dilapidated structure. There was _no _way anyone else was living there, let alone a fourteen-year-old girl all by herself.

"Yes, Captain," Rei replied monotonously. No further explanation. Misato was liking this less and less.

It seemed Shinji was thinking the same thing. "I don't see how anyone could stay here. Half the place is collapsed!"

_"I think Mt. Filth had more structural integrity than this jank-ass place."_

"It is adequate for its purpose," Rei said. Misato tried to look for defensiveness in her tone, but it was like trying to pick up on the emotional intricacies of a rock. "If that is all, I will be going." She was already stepping out.

"Hold on," Misato called after her. "Rei, you shouldn't have to live here. Are you sure about this?"

"It is adequate," Rei repeated. "I will see you at school, Ikari."At that, she departed.

Misato frowned as her gaze followed the girl walking into the complex. "That poor girl…" she muttered. "I'm gonna talk to Ritsuko about this. Our pilots should have better living conditions than this."

Shinji stayed silent, although his thoughts were much along the same lines as Misato's. The ruined building that she called home only served to encourage the image in his mind of both an alien estranged from the rest of society and a lonely girl that led a life separate from others.

_"Damn, the Black Progenitor's really got it rough. Never thought I'd see the day." _Sachiel said. He turned toward Shinji. _"We need to get her outta there, bro."_

"Yeah," he breathed, responding to both occupants of the car. He hadn't really understood how bad her situation was until now. He knew then that'd he do something about that as soon as possible.

-0-

Except not really, because the next day was chock full of lovely tests and simulations. After blasting virtual Sachiels for hours on end, Shinji shuffled out of the testing entry plug like a zombie. All he could think of after that was the sweet, sweet embrace of his bed. Wasn't Sunday supposed to be a no-work day?

_Rei can wait another day,_ he reasoned as he fell face first into his pillow.

And she'd have to wait a little longer than that, because fate just _loved _messing with the residents of Tokyo-3.

-0-

In the Pacific Ocean, a would-be god began to stir.

_'tis my turn, then? Very well._

The ocean floor was illuminated, briefly revealing the form of an immense creature that would make the most colossal of squids wave their tentacles in envy.

_The memories of my brother are flooding into me. Do not worry, Sachiel, by the Light of my Soul, I will PUNISH the one who dared slay you!_

And so Shamshel rose, and all who saw her trembled, for she was very big, very scary, and very, very pink.

-0-

_"So, how does it feel to finally get some recognition?"_

"Huh?" Shinji asked, before realized Sachiel was referring to what happened earlier. Someone had sent him a private message asking him if he was an Eva pilot and he'd said yes, which seemed to just get everyone in a frenzy. "Oh, I guess? I dunno, it was kind of embarrassing, honestly. I don't like being the center of attention."

Class had just been dismissed, and Shinji decided to leave through the back this time to avoid any more unwanted attention. No one else seemed to be around, which was just fine by him. At least this way he'd get some peace and quiet…

"Hey, transfer student!" called out a gruff voice behind him.

… Maybe not.

Fighting down the twinge of annoyance he felt, Shinji turned back and said "Hel-"

_Smack!_

The punch hit right in the face, sending him falling to the ground more out of surprise than anything. He cried out in pain when he hit the pavement, which actually hurt more than the punch. Shinji wiped at his face, still not quite believing it had even happened.

_"Hey, what gives, asshole?!" _Sachiel yelled, a look of indignant rage on his bird-like face.

"Sorry, transfer student, but I had to hit ya," apologized his attacker, a boy in a tracksuit that Shinji hadn't seen in class until today. He was rubbing at his knuckles and clearly didn't seem to relish in what he did. "I just wouldn't have been satisfied until I smacked ya."

_"Yeah, that's some consolation there, pal!" _Sachiel spat before floating over to Shinji, looking concerned. _"You alright, bud?"_

A bespectacled boy leaned over Shinji, flashing him a sheepish smile. "Sorry about that. His younger sister got hurt in that battle, so I guess he felt like he owed her one."

The boy shrugged and walked off to join his friend, who already seemed to be leaving.

For some reason, the sight of those two dismissing him so easily after that made him angrier than the actual punch. "You think I wanted to do that?!" Shinji called after them. "That I _wanted _to get in that thing and hurt people?!"

The tracksuit-wearing boy stopped and spun around, roughly pushing aside his friend as he stomped over to Shinji. Grabbing him by the collar, he brought Shinji up to his eye level and glared at him. Shinji didn't look away, returning his gaze with an even stare.

Growling, he raised his fist to strike-

-But a pale hand grabbed his arm, stopping him.

_"I guess we got enough points to pass that check," _Sachiel commented from the sidelines.

Everyone, including Shinji, gaped in disbelief at what they were seeing. Rei Ayanami, the emotionless girl, _taking action?_

Granted, Rei didn't really know what possessed her to stop his fist, considering it had no effect on her whatsoever, so she was just as confused, if not more so, than they were. Not that it showed on her face, of course.

"There is an emergency," Rei calmly reported, looking directly at Shinji. "I will go on ahead."

She let go of his arm and ran off. A couple moments of silence passed between the three boys, respecting the fact that the stars must have aligned or _something _that might've contributed to this previously-unheard of occurrence.

"Is it just me, or was that kind of hot?" Of course, being kids in middle school, one would naturally find a way to ruin the moment.

"Shuddup, Kensuke," Toji grumbled, letting go of Shinji's collar and storming off. "I don't need to hit ya again. Get lost."

_"What a dick," _said Sachiel as they watched the two boys walk off. _"You sure you're okay?"_

"I'm fine," Shinji muttered, wiping at his face again. Best to forget it ever happened. "Let's just go."

-0-

Explosions erupted along Shamshel's body, not quite hitting the plates of pink chitin-like material that covered her. Despite their clear uselessness, the toys of the lilim continued their ineffectual attacks.

_'tis… boring, _thought the Fourth Angel as she flew across the countryside. _These frail things aren't even worth vanquishing. Whatever happened to the foul Beast that felled Sachiel?_

Disappointed, the Angel of Morning nonetheless continued her journey. Complementation beckoned.

-0-

The entry plug locked into place, jerking Shinji a bit. He was still a bit uncomfortable wearing the plugsuit, since it made him feel like he was wearing _nothing at all_, but griping about it now would get him nowhere. In situations like this, it was simply best to do what he was told.

Even though they were sending him out again. To fight and kill. And father wasn't even here to see it. What if something happened? What if he hurt someone, like that guy's sister, or something worse happened, like-

_**Bzzzt!**_

"Gah!" Shinji yelped, nursing his hand.

_"Is everything alright in there, Shinji?" _Misato asked, her voice ringing out over the comm.

"Y-Yeah, fine," Shinji hastily said, sending a glare Sachiel's way. "Sorry."

_"It's fine. The Angel's almost at the city's outskirts. We're deploying in five." _The comm. disappeared on his HUD, closing the channel.

"What was that for?!" Shinji hissed.

_"You were doing that over-thinking thing again," _answered the little Angel, who drifted through the LCL towards him. _"You got this, alright? Don't worry about anything else except kicking my sister's ass, you hear me?" _He jabbed a tiny finger at Shinji's nose. _"I'll be here with ya the whole time, just like I said I would, so don't you worry." _Sachiel grinned. _"Alright?"_

"Yeah, I hear you." Shinji sighed and tightened his grip on the Eva's controls. "It just still doesn't feel real, I guess."

_"Pssh, that's fine," _Sachiel waved dismissively, plopping down at his usual roost on Shinji's shoulder. _"Look, you still gotta get Rei that book, right? And get her out of that shitty apartment? So just focus on that if you get too scared. You got something to get back to."_

"I suppose… yeah, you're right." Shinji smiled, determination crossing his face for the first time. "I can do this."

_"Atta boy!"_

-0-

_So this is where Sachiel was bested, _Shamshel noted as she finally reached Tokyo-3. _If that's the case, then the foul Beast must be close…_

One of the buildings before her shuddered. If she'd had eyes, her eyes would've wandered to it and then widened when they spied the purple-and-green armored being that stepped forth. Raising to her full stature, Shamshel appraised her foe with glee.

_Aha, so there you are! While I must admit your form is… pleasing, I must avenge my fallen kin! Be prepared to… Oh, you're doing the thing that those little things did earlier. How… boring._

A storm of bullets crashed into the Light of her Soul, which was about as effectual as trying to slice bread with a flaccid noodle. And almost as sad. It was also kicking up a mighty amount of smoke, which was getting irritating.

_Well, if you are _quite _done, _Shamshel said after the gunfire had ceased, _HAVE AT THEE!_

-0-

_"Holy shit, she gets to fly AND has those crazy whips?! I got jipped, man!"_

Shinji might've told him to shut up if he wasn't busy fearing for his life. As it was, the Angel had immediately went on the offensive, forcing Shinji to frantically dodge its freaky-fast whips. At least he'd managed so far…

Until one wrapped itself around Unit 01's ankle, that is.

Both Third Child and Third Angel screamed when they were flung high into the air, sending Unit 01 crashing into a nearby mountain.

_"Sweet merciful Dad, sis…" _Sachiel panted, tiny chest rising and falling heavily. _"Cut us a break, would ya?"_

A timer appeared on the HUD next to Shinji, starting at 5:00 but then rapidly beginning to count down.

_"Uh, that's not good, is it?"_

Another display appeared, showing the same two boys that Shinji had encountered earlier right next to Unit 01 and very much in the line of fire.

_"Oh, come on!"_

-0-

_Though you may be a beautiful Beast, a Beast you still are, _Shamshel thought as she loomed over it, whips at the ready. _Know that I only do this out of duty to my kin. _At that, her whips lashed out.

Faster than predicted, the purple Beast grabbed the whips before they could land. Still, the violent energy coursing through the whips was doing the deed well enough, melting through the Beast's armor with ease.

_Your courage in the face of such odds is commendable, but you really should accept defeat with grace while you can. There is no shame in this loss._

Still, the Beast held on. Shamshel was idly aware of something going on at the back of the Beast, where a white cylinder protruding from between its shoulder blades, but when the strange object replaced itself her focus turned back to the Beast itself.

With a violent heave, it pushed Shamshel back, throwing her backward and freeing its grip. Shamshel drifted back a ways, eyeing the Beast warily.

_Are you _quite _done yet? _She was starting to get irritated.

-0-

Misato had just ordered the retreat. And now two of his classmates were in the entry plug, messing with his connection with Unit 01. _And _the timer was going down.

_What do I do, what do I do, what do I do?!_

_"Screw running away, we're low on time as it is! We need to finish this fight, now."_

"B-But Misato said…"

_"I heard what she said, Shinji, but let me tell you what I'm seeing. I see one of those timer things that you Lilim use to measure how long things take. It is currently going down VERY QUICKLY."_

"But if I get too close…"

"Uh... you alright there, transfer student?" Toji went unheard.  
_  
"Listen to me, Shinji!"_ Sachiel shouted, completely invisible to the other two passengers in the entry plug._ "If this thing stops working, you're not the only one who'll bite it. These two will be in danger, and not to mention the REST OF YOUR ENTIRE RACE!" _Sachiel got up close to Shinji's face. _"So get in there and kick my sister's ASS!"_

Silence reigned. Briefly.

Shinji took a deep breath. "Okay."

_"Awesome. Alright, I got a plan, you need to trust me, alright?"_

"Yeah, okay."

"What the heck is going on here, man?"

"I dunno, I think he's cracked…"

_"When I say go, rush her."_

"Um, with the knife?"

_"Nah, something better. Just watch."_

And then Sachiel dove, diving deeper and deeper into the heart of Unit 01, praying that the feeling he'd had would see him through.

-0-

A vast emptiness, infinite and utterly void.

But no longer.

**Who are you? **

The words couldn't be heard, or even felt. Here, in the heart of its soul, the eye of the storm of never-ending spirals, it simply _was_.

_I am. Sachiel. The Third. I seek to aid the one who guides the Light of your Soul._

A tiny voice, barely audible against the tempest.

**I see.**

_I seek to protect him. To save him. So do you._

**Yes.**

_Will you let me?_

A pause. Then the world heaved.

-0-

Inside the Entry Plug, something could be felt, stirring below. Suddenly, a voice came on inside the Plug, unfamiliar to Kensuke and Toji.

Shinji, however, knew the voice.

_**"INSTRUMEMORY SYSTEM ENGAGED. PREPPING **__**IMPACT LANCE**__**."**_

"Sachiel?"

-0-

Outside, the Eva got up slowly, a faint glow emanating from the exposed pieces of skin.

The glow intensified near the damaged arm of Unit 01, radiating more and more until it was near-blinding.

Abruptly, the glow dissipated. The armor on the forearm of the Evangelion was repaired. Repaired, but... altered, as if it had come off another like it.

Gone was the purple with green highlights. In its place was an armor that was sleeker than the previous, colored a drudgingly dark green. The armor plating continued on, off of the elbow, jutting outwards from the joint.

But most noticeably changed was the hand. The five slender digits of the Eva were covered on the back by two series of armored plates, giving the illusion of a three-fingered hand. And in the center of the palm was a peculiar hole.

With a shrill whine, a pale spine of energy slowly rose from the back of the elbow, moving parallel to the elbow's sleek fin.

The Impact Lance was ready.

-0-

_**"You ready, Shinji?"**_

The two passengers looked up in confusion. Shinji, however, nodded in confirmation, face hardened into a look of determination.

_**"Let's go! ASSKICKING TIME!"**_

And with that, Shinji roared as he willed Unit-01 to leap at the Angel.

-0-

"What the…" Ritsuko could only stare in utter disbelief at what she was seeing. Granted, so was everyone else on the bridge, but her expression was particularly comical. "That… THAT DOESN'T MAKE ANY DAMN SENSE!"

-0-

Shamshel could only stare in utter disbelief at what she was seeing. She backpedaled hard, barely deflecting what was most definitely _Sachiel's lance_ with her whips. Still, it wasn't enough to stop the clearly-maddened Beast.

_WHAT BY ALL THAT IS HOLY IS GOING ON HERE?!_

-0-

_**"Alright, bro, final push!"**_

"Yeah!"

Guided by two wills, Unit 01's transformed arm thrust forward, the Impact Lance charging straight for Shamshel's core. The whips attempted to smack it away again, but Shinji threw all of Unit 01's weight into the blow, allowing the Lance to pierce straight through the core and out the back. The whips hardened where they were, going utterly still. They'd won.

The power just happened to go out at the same time, sending Unit 01 falling right on top of the newly-defeated Angel. The Eva's right arm briefly glowed again, and when the light faded so too did the changes. Its arm was once again normal.

Shinji let out a ragged breaths in his seat as the adrenaline faded. The two boys behind him stared in wonder at him, eyes wide with awe.

Sachiel drifted up from the bottom of the entry plug, looking equally winded. He sank like a rock into Shinji's shoulder, an exhausted smile on his face.

_"Hey man…" _he breathed, his every word a labor, _"You and me… we did it."_

"Yeah," was all Shinji could bring himself to say.

_"Heh. You ready for another one of us to hang around ya?"_

"You know, Sach," Shinji said, finally feeling himself starting to calm down. "Whatever they may be like, I doubt they'll ever be as crazy as you."

A beat.

_"Haha. HahahahahahahaHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"_

* * *

**Author's Note: Wow, this is quickly becoming my most popular fic. Thanks so much to everyone that's been reading and reviewing, it means a lot to hear from you all! **

**Also, those who followed the old threads will note the gender-swap for Shamshel. He was a bit of a blank slate in the original stuff, so I altered a few things to make old Sammy a little more interesting. She'll make a nice dynamic for the group to come, I'm thinking, once she gets in the swing of things.**

**Anyway, hope you enjoyed!**


	5. Chapter 5: Debrief

_"I don't get it. Why are they mad at us?! We just saved all their asses!" _Sachiel buzzed around the room angrily, shaking his incorporeal fists in the vague direction of wherever "they" were.

Shinji took a deep breath and closed his eyes, leaning back against the cold concrete wall. He was currently under quarantine in some small room in NERV HQ, in case he had "mental contamination" from… _whatever _it was that he and Sachiel had done in the fight. It was done seemingly out of concern for his well-being, but the whole thing stank of punishment to him. He hadn't even been given the chance to get out his plugsuit.

"Probably because I disobeyed orders." Frustration and bitterness leaked into his dull voice.

_"Pfft, what kind of stuck-up ass would care about that, so long as we won?" _Sachiel pouted, folding his arms. _"I don't care what they say, but you were pretty badass out there, and don't let 'em tell ya differently!"_

The boy smiled at that. "You weren't so bad yourself, Sach. Without you, I doubt I would've survived."

_"Nah, you woulda been fine without me. Although you probably would've looked less cool." _Sachiel smirked.

Shinji snorted. Funny how just a few words with his ghostly companion already made him feel a little better. And since he was no longer quite as upset with his current circumstances, his thoughts turned back to the events that led them there. "So… what _did _you do, back there?"

_"Hm? Oh, during the fight. You remember how I told ya I could sense Unit 01's soul and stuff?"_

Shinji nodded.

_"And that it was calling out to me whenever you synched with it?"_

Another nod.

_"Well… I suppose you could say I called back. I synched with her (the soul is totally a she, by the way) and we came to an agreement, of sorts."_

Shinji tilted his head to the side. "And you said Unit 01's soul was human before, right?"

_"Yupper-doodle."_

He frowned at that. The implications of that were… disquieting. "How did a woman's soul get in an Eva?" he asked quietly.

_"Hell if I know, dude," _Sachiel shrugged. _"Anyway, she allowed me to piggyback on your connection to her. That gave me access to the Light of the Soul, and from there it was a piece of cake to modify it into a form that could help you."_

"The Light…? You mean the AT-field?"

_"Yeah, that's what you lilim seem to be calling it lately. Don't get why, but then again I don't get a lot of things you people do."_

"Huh." Shinji scratched at his cheek, mulling over what he'd been told. He _had _felt something during the fight, like a second synchronization but more personal, a clear exchange of emotions and thoughts that he understood far more easily than when he was synched with Unit 01. That would explain why he and Sachiel seemed of one mind after the Impact Lance appeared. "So that… what was it called, Instrumemory System, was made by you?"

_"I honestly couldn't tell ya," _Sachiel smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. _"The words just kinda came out like I was on autopilot. It must've been something already there. Hell if I know why or how, though."_

Shinji felt another headache coming on. This whole situation just kept getting more and more complicated. At this point, he wasn't sure how it could get even more…

_"Ahem."_

A crisp but soft female voice interrupted his thoughts. Shinji and Sachiel turned to see that they had been joined by a third-party when they weren't paying attention. It was roughly the same size as Sachiel and resembled an upright, thin pink tube with a bright red orb at the center that was surrounded a bone-white ribcage. A pale tentacle dangled from each shoulder in place of arms, both wiggling slightly as it floated idly in the air. The head, disproportionately large for its body, looked like a more cartoonish interpretation of the Fourth Angel's.

After a few seconds passed by in silence, Shamshel spoke. _"I require an explanation."_

-0-

**Little Angel Thesis**

**Chapter 5: Debrief**

-0-

Ritsuko narrowed her eyes, glaring down the purple behemoth from her perch on the observation deck as it slid back into its place in the Cage. Damage reports were already flooding in, along with estimated repair costs, maintenance schedules, and a load of other inconsequential minutiae that could easily be dealt with by Maya and her other subordinates. None of that mattered right now.

Because all she wanted to do was figure out how a _completely undetected weapons system _that could somehow _copy the Third Angel_ got into _her Eva_.

Something nudged her elbow, briefly snapping her from her reverie, and an offered cup of coffee appeared before her.

"I'd say penny for your thoughts, but I think your expression paints me a clear enough picture," said Misato as the doctor took the cup from her. "You figure out what happened yet?"

Ritsuko took a big gulp before shaking her head. "Unfortunately, no. There's no trace of the changes Unit 01 had undergone, so all we have to go by is the data we got during the battle. But we've only done preliminary scans so far. If we get anything else, it'll be from a more in-depth analysis."

"Hm." Misato nursed her own coffee, blowing on it and sending trails of vapor fluttering away. "And since the audio from the entry plug was erased right before the changes started, it'll be pretty difficult to see if Shinji had any direct part in it." She sighed. "Awfully convenient, isn't it?"

"Aggravatingly so," Ritsuko groaned. "Speaking of, why aren't you debriefing Shinji right now? I thought we agreed I'd deal with this while you handled the human element of this mess."

"Well…" Misato slumped where she stood, avoiding looking at her friend. "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't putting it off a little. Besides, he disobeyed orders. A little detention time alone should give him time to think about what he did."

"Even if he _did _save our lives."

Normally, Ritsuko playing Devil's Advocate would've gotten at least some rise out of her, but Misato didn't rise to the bait. "Yeah, he did," she muttered quietly, "Though we have no damn clue how he did it. Agh!" Misato angrily rubbed at her temple with her free hand. "None of this crap was in the job description!"

"Complaining about your job right when things get difficult is childish," Ritsuko chided. A monitor to her left chimed, and she glanced at it momentarily before asking, "Have you spoken with his classmates yet?"

"Yeah, they had some interesting things to say, even if it was a bit confusing. Shinji was apparently talking to himself before it happened, and then a voice came out of the Eva. Does 'Instrumemory System' mean anything to you?"

Ritsuko's eyes widened at the words. It couldn't have been the same thing, but it sounded dangerously similar to… No, it couldn't have been. If it had been anything like the actual Instrumentality, to say the results would've been catastrophic would be an understatement. More like _apocalyptic_. It had to have been a coincidence.

_Now now, there's no such thing as coincidence, Ritsuko_, chided her mother's voice in her head, _Not when you're playing God._

"Um, Rits?" Misato asked, snapping the doctor from her reverie. The purple-haired woman leaned forward, titling her head to get a better look at Ritsuko's face. "You okay?"

"Fine, fine," Ritsuko hastily answered. She shook her head, blonde hair wafting. "Sorry, I was just thinking if I recognized it. But I've never encountered anything like that before." She moved to take another sip.

Misato sighed. "I suppose it was too much to hope for. Those kids also said that the Eva's voice called that weapon it created an 'Impact Lance'.'"

Ritsuko spat out her coffee.

"Yeah, that's not ominous at all, right? It's almost like whoever made the damn thing had a sick twisted sense of humor." Misato said sourly.

"This keeps getting better and better," Ritsuko grumbled as she wiped off the coffee dripping from her chin. "I have a few theories on what it could be, but I'm not making any assumptions until I know more. Did Shinji's classmates have anything else to say?"

Misato shook her head. "Nope. Well, they asked how Shinji was, but I just told them he was fine then sent them on their way. After making them sign a bunch of nondisclosure stuff, of course."

Ritsuko quirked an eyebrow at her friend. "You're just letting those two go? Despite their involvement with the incident?"

"Eh, they had nothing to do with it. Besides, they're just kids," Misato waved dismissively.

"That sentiment would mean a bit more if we weren't sending kids out to fight our battles."

"…"

The two stood in silence after that, both sipping at their respective drinks. Beyond the window, maintenance crews were beginning the process of repairing Unit 01, but avoided touching its right arm. Maya was down there as well, examining the arm in-person with other Project E specialists for any physical traces of the changes.

And above them all, the demonic and horned visage of the Evangelion loomed, watching over the proceedings behind its darkened eyes.

-0-

"I'm going to assume this wasn't accounted for by your Scenario," Fuyutsuki muttered dryly.

Gendo was silent as he stared at the frozen image, a snapshot of Unit 01 during the battle with the Fourth Angel. Behind orange-tinted glasses, he observed every last detail of the odd transformation its right arm had undergone. He didn't like what he saw.

"It looks like the Third Angel," Fuyutsuki noted."What was its name again? Sahaquiel?"

"Sachiel," Gendo corrected, pushing up his glasses with gloved hands. "And it does, disquietingly so." There were very few individuals in the world that Gendo Ikari would ever admit to finding something disquieting; the only one left alive was in the room with him. "The Dead Sea Scrolls said nothing of this."

Fuyutsuki snorted. "You already sound like the old men. Yellow and Green will likely only bitch and moan about that for the duration of the coming meeting."

"It matters not. The Scrolls were written before mankind even existed and are beyond true understanding. To take everything translated from them as gospel is the height of foolishness."

"And yet here we are," Fuyutsuki sighed, shaking his head. "Either way, this… Sachiel. Do you think Unit 01 somehow absorbed some its abilities after its defeat?"

"Improbable, if not impossible," Gendo answered. "The Eva would've had to physically consume the Angel if that were the case. However, it is not a possibility we should rule out."

"Hm."

A few moments passed in silence as they both stared at Unit 01, triumphant as it speared the Fourth Angel. Both men wondered at the implications of this recent development, and how it would shape the battles to come, against the Angels and otherwise.

"It could be her," Fuyutsuki found himself saying, well aware of the minefield he was stepping through. Still, he felt that the possibility needed to be stated.

Gendo didn't react in the slightest, his body an emotionless statue. Fuyutsuki saw the façade for what it was, but said nothing else. It was too soon to know how things would end up in the coming war. Two Angels had been defeated, but thirteen still remained. And after that…

Well, if all went as planned, then God would no longer be in His Heaven.

-0-

_"SAMMY!" _Sachiel cried out in delight, crashing into his sister and wrapping his arms around her in a tight bear hug. Shamshel let out a surprised yelp as she was crushed by his grip, clearly not expecting the sudden burst of affection. She shifted slightly in his embrace and awkwardly wrapped a tentacle around his back.

_"Sachiel," _Shamshel eventually said, her voice still full of that dignified air from before, if somewhat tempered by unsure emotion, _"'tis… good to see you."_

_"Oh, you have _no _idea." _Sachiel pulled away from her, a silly grin plastered on his face.

_"But that itself begs the question," _Shamshel said, all business, _"Why are you and I still here? I would not have awakened if you were still alive."_

_"That's cuz I'm not alive,"_ Sachiel answered, before considering for a moment. He shrugged. _"Well, not in the typical sense, I suppose. I dunno exactly why, but our souls somehow attached themselves to the person who killed us. Speaking of!" _He whirled around, gesturing with a three-fingered hand behind him. _"This is my friend!"_

Shinji, who'd been patiently keeping quiet in an inconspicuous corner, something he'd had _plenty _of practice with, jumped a bit at the sudden attention. He meekly waved a hand at them. "Uh, hello. I'm Shinji. It's, uh, nice to meet you."

Shamshel bowed her head slightly. _"I am Shamshel, the Angel of Morning. 'tis an honor for me, Destroyer. Though, to be honest, I did not expect you to look so… ah, small."_

The Third Child couldn't help but quirk an eyebrow at that. "You're one to talk." He blinked. "And could you please not call me Destroyer? That feels kind of weird."

_"But 'tis who you are," _Shamshel insisted, _"Even if you did have the assistance of that… delightful creature, defeating me in single combat is no small feat and worthy of acknowledgement."_

"Oh, come on!" Shinji groaned, throwing his hands up in the air. "You too?!"

_"Beg pardon?"_

_"Hey now, I saw her first, Sammy!" _Sachiel protested, waving a tiny fist in the air. _"Besides, I _totally _merged souls with her, so you might as well just give up now."_

_"Ah, you mean that fusion earlier? So that's what that was," _Shamshel nodded, a pink tentacle rubbing at her 'chin,' _"Well, I daresay I'll have to make an attempt as well…"_

"Um… is there any chance at all that we could _not _talk about Unit 01 like it was a sexual object?" Shinji pleaded.

Sachiel and Shamshel, in a moment of true sibling understanding, just stared at the only human in the room like he was insane.

Shinji groaned, palming his face. Why did he even bother? There were only two of them, and he already felt like he was getting ganged up on. She didn't even seem bothered at all by the fact that Sachiel fought against her… That was actually pretty odd. "Hold on, you don't have any problem that your own brother helped beat you?"

_"I can't say I bare him any ill will, no," _Shamshel answered, _"Especially now that I see his connection to you. He was merely doing what he could to survive, and I could never begrudge him that." _

Beside her, Sachiel chuckled. _"You haven't changed at all, sis."_

_"Neither have you, brother."_ Shamshel said warmly.

"So… does that mean you'll be sticking around, too?" Shinji asked.

_"Why, 'tis not even a question. I'd be honored to join your retinue, Destroyer, especially if I will be able to spend more time with my kin. And perhaps if you could also introduce me to this "Unit 01" you speak of…"_

Shinji sighed. "This is going to be a thing, isn't it?"

The metal door handle squeaked, startling everyone in the room. Shinji gulped, preparing for whatever was to come. A punishment of some sort, no doubt. When the door opened, he was momentarily blinded by the sudden light, and he rose a hand to cover his tearing eyes.

Misato stepped in the room, arms folded. When she didn't comment on the floating mini-Angels, Shamshel asked her brother, _"Can she not see us?"_

Sachiel shook his head. _"Nah, only Shinji can see and hear us. Oh, that reminds me, don't bother trying to talk to him when other people are around. Apparently it's weird for lilim to talk to the ghosts of their fallen enemies that only they can see."_

_"I see. It would seem our Destroyer is a deviant among his own kind." _Shamshel nodded, clearly satisfied with the conclusion she'd come to all on her own.

Shinji ignored their exchange, instead focusing entirely on the woman standing before him. Gone was the laidback guardian, guzzling booze while teasing him mercilessly with a knowing wink. All he saw now was the disappointed captain, her brown eyes hardened and judging.

He couldn't even look at her, despite his own bitterness. The passion and courage from the battle had abandoned him.

After a pregnant pause, Misato finally spoke. "You disobeyed my orders."

"I'm sorry," was all he could say, as if on autopilot.

"I'm in charge of your operations. You're supposed to follow my orders to the letter. Understood?"

Shinji's hands tightened, plugsuit scrunching up as he gripped his knees. He hated this. Misato sounded so cold, so unlike herself. Or maybe this was who she really was, and everything from before had just been an act. All of that supposed familiarity and caring, it could've all been a trick just to make sure he stayed.

"Yes," Shinji whispered. Beside him, Sachiel frowned.

"This is the last time I'll allow this."

"Yes."

"Are you even listening to me?"

"Yes."

"Stop that!" For the first time, Misato sounded actually angry. Secretly, Shinji reveled that he was able to provoke a reaction out of her. "Saying yes all the time won't get you very far in life."

"What else do you want me to say?" Shinji asked, voice distant. "It's not like it matters. We won, didn't we?"

_"Shinji…" _Sachiel began to say, but Misato cut him off.

"That attitude will get you killed," she almost spat. This time the vitriol caught Shinji off guard. "You can't just go along with whatever people say!"

_"I believe that was a hypocritical statement," _Shamshel observed, which caused Shinji to chuckle lowly.

"What's so funny?" Misato asked.

"It's…" Shinji _wanted _to say it, but something kept him back. He just wanted this to end. He sighed, shoulders sagging. "Never mind. Are you done?"

Misato stared at him for a long moment. Deep down, she didn't like treating Shinji this way, but she felt like she had no other choice to get the message through to him. Professionally, of course, subordinates had to follow orders without hesitation or complaint for the sake of the group, but… that wasn't the only thing she was worried about.

Still, she knew better than to keep pushing at the moment, for both her and Shinji's sakes. Back to business, since she still had to ask him a few more things.

"Do you know why Unit 01 changed during the battle?" Misato asked.

Shinji kept staring down, considering whether to answer or not. Sachiel and Shamshel looked at each other, before the former drifted closer to his side.

_"It's not like you gotta tell her the whole truth, man," _Sachiel said to him, _"Just give her something and she'll let you go."_

Shinji took a deep breath and let it out, but still didn't look up. Well, if it would get him away from here faster… "I'm not sure. I was so scared, and I guess… the Eva responded. I didn't tell it to change, it just did."

You gotta love those technical truths.

"So you don't know what the Instrumemory System is?" Misato pressed.

"No," Shinji shook his head. He thought about it further and figured what her next question would be. "And I don't know what the Impact Lance is, either."

"I see," Misato let out a long sigh, suddenly feeling exhausted. She should've figured that he wouldn't know that much, since even _Ritsuko _seemed stumped by recent events. "Then you're dismissed. I won't be home for a while, so I'll see you when I get back."

Without another word, Shinji stood up and shuffled out of the room. When the sounds of his squeaking plugsuit faded away, Misato palmed her face and her shoulders sagged. "Am I really cut out for this?" she asked what she thought was an empty room.

Unbeknownst to her, Shamshel had waited a little longer to follow Shinji and Sachiel. The Angel of Morning watched the woman for a few more moments, trying to get the measure of her. After coming to some sort of conclusion, Shamshel departed, leaving Misato alone. For now.

-0-

_"Destroyer, I would have a word."_

"Hm?" Shinji looked up from the kitchen counter, where he was preparing dinner. Misato still had yet to return, so he was only making enough for himself, which was just fine by him. "What is it, Shamshel?"

_"This 'Misato' individual," _Shamshel started. Shinji's expression instantly darkened. _"She is both your commander and your guardian, yes?"_

"Yeah," he grunted, returning to work on chopping up the vegetables. "What of it?"

_"I believe your behavior towards her earlier was immensely disrespectful."_

The knife came down with a loud _thunk_ on the cutting board. "I don't want to talk about this."

_"Avoiding the issue will not solve it," _Shamshel admonished, hovering closer. _"Perhaps if-"_

"Shamshel," Shinji interrupted her, "I'm a little busy here. Could you please give me some space?" The tone was polite, but backed with a will that left no room for debate. It was clear nothing she said would get through to him. It would usually be at this point where Sachiel would get in his face and slap him into shape.

So Shinji's eyes widened with surprise when Shamshel bowed deferentially and did as he asked. _"As you say, Destroyer. I will be here to provide counsel should you seek it. If you need me, I shall be with Sachiel." _At that, she left.

When he was sure she was gone, Shinji let out a long sigh and returned to cooking, finding solace in the calming effect the simple process had on him. Still, he couldn't help but ponder her words.

_I don't really see what the big deal is, _he thought. _I've always reacted to painful situations this way. Like it didn't really happen to me, like I was watching it happen to someone else._

That way, it didn't hurt as much. It was better that way.

Shinji shook his head. Sachiel would've hated to hear that. He could tell that Sachiel had wanted to say something earlier, but the Angel had held back for some reason. Shinji sometimes just couldn't make any sense of his little green friend.

It's almost like he was an undead alien, or something.

-0-

Shamshel found her brother on the balcony, sitting on the railing and staring out at the city beyond. He smiled when she joined him, his legs idly kicking in the empty air.

_"You tried talking to him, huh?" _Sachiel asked.

She nodded. _"I did. However, he was… less than receptive of my attempts at reasoning with him." _Shamshel frowned and folded her tentacles. _"Our Destroyer is a most vexing individual."_

Sachiel snorted. _"Don't I know it. I wouldn't beat myself over it if I were you, sis, he just needs some space right now."_

_"But I fear that if he does not resolve his clear issues with authority, the issue will only worsen," _Shamshel insisted, _"His behavior is-"_

_"Look, I get it, sis, I really do. But, for now…" _Sachiel's gaze turned upward, to the stars. _"Just chill with me, alright?"_

Shamshel went quiet and mimicked him. For a few moments the two Angels simply sat there in silence, letting the sounds of the world around them fill their ears. The chopping coming from the kitchen, followed by shifting vegetables and running water. The soft padding of Pen-Pen's feet inside. And beyond them, the bustling city, full of light and honking horns, thousands of people returning home from work or going about other business.

_"I'm really happy I died," _Sachiel said, suddenly. His sister tilted her head to the side, confused.

_"Why do you say such a thing?"_

_"Because of all this," _he explained, gesturing toward… well, everything with open arms. _"I didn't exactly have a chance to really see it, since I was, y'know, trying to destroy the world and all, but now that I can I just love it. It beats those fifteen years of utter solitude, I'll tell ya that much."_

_"… You do have a point, I suppose," _Shamshel conceded, nodding her head. _"I must admit, there is a certain peace to be found in the presence of so much life."_

_"But do you know what makes me the happiest that I died?" _Sachiel asked.

_"Please."_

Sachiel turned to face her. _"I got to meet Shinji." _He smiled sheepishly. _"Dumb as it sounds, I've always wished I could have a friend. Yeah, I had you guys, but… we never really saw each other, y'know? And I didn't think I'd ever see you all again, so… I latched onto him. Shinji's a great guy. Sad thing is, he doesn't know it yet."_

_"That seems evident even to me, despite my limited time spent with him," _Shamshel agreed, _"A weaker individual could not have defeated beings such as you or me, so he certainly has a warrior's heart. And yet he seems… lost? 'tis difficult to explain."_

_"No kidding," _Sachiel sighed and rubbed his chin. _"Regardless, I plan on sticking with him for now, maybe even 'til the end. He's fun, and helping him makes me happy."_

_"Hence why you aided him during our battle."_

_"Yeah." _Sachiel paused, mulling over his next words. _"Though I'd be lying if I said I was doing it solely for his sake."_

Shamshel looked at him curiously, her eyes questioning.

He looked down and fiddled with his hands. _"I just thought, ya know, maybe, if I got a second chance of 'life', then all of us could, and maybe, I dunno, we could all be together again and… um," _he rambled, fully aware he was doing so, _"Maybe… we could be a family. Since we never had the chance."_

She stared at her brother, unsure of what to say. The idea had never occurred to her before, simply because it had long ago been tossed aside as an impossibility. The Angels had always known that they were temporary beings, since they would either die before their time or their individuality would fade the moment they merged with Adam. Such was the price of Complementation, and they'd all accepted it.

But now… could there really be a different route?

The feeling that such a thought stirred in her chest was… not unpleasant.

_"Sachiel…" _Shamshel said, after a few moments of silent consideration, _"I believe that goal is worth reaching for."_

Sachiel beamed, suddenly wrapping his arms around her in a tight embrace. _"Glad to hear it, sis! We'll help Shinji kick our bros' and sis' asses and we'll be one big happy ghostly family!"_

Shamshel allowed herself a small smile. _"Indeed. It would be nice to see everyone again." _She paused. _"Except perhaps not Gaghiel."_

_"Or Iruel."_

_"I could do without seeing Bardiel for a while yet."_

_"I'll have to buy earplugs if we're gonna be seeing Zeruel anytime soon, too."_

Shamshel laughed, filling the air with melodic sound. _"Perhaps we shouldn't say such rude things about our kin."_

_"Eh, they're not here yet." _Sachiel then laughed with her, leaning forward to look at the city. _"Let's just enjoy the quiet while we can, huh? Things are gonna be a LOT nuttier once they start showing up."_

-0-

The next day, Shinji's bad mood persisted. School was canceled after the day of an Angel attack, so he'd decided to spend the day in the apartment watching TV. With Misato gone at work dealing with Shamshel's fallout, Shinji thought that he'd be left in peace with nothing but his own thoughts for company.

Sachiel took issue.

_**Bzzzt!**_

"Ow!" Shinji yelped, jumping from his spot on the couch. Pen-Pen, who was lying on the floor with an empty beer can at his side, spared the boy a cursory glance before returning to the TV, deigning this a mundane affair. "What was that for?!"

_"You know damn well why!" _Sachiel accused, keeping his tiny Impact Lance at the ready, _"I gave you some space for the night thinking you'd get over it, but you're still mopin' around like it's the end of the world! Now c'mon, you got a free day, do something with it."_

"I _am_ doing something with it," Shinji muttered, already reclining back into the cushioned seat. "This is how I enjoy myself."

_"That's funny, cuz you don't _look _like you're enjoying yourself," _Sachiel said, _"Why don't we show Sammy around the city? Or check out the bookstore again?"_

"You don't need me to do any of that, right? Just take her yourself."

_"That's not the point, man." _Sachiel sighed, frowning. _"You need to get outta the house, bro. The stuff with Misato will clear up soon, so why let it ruin your day?"_

"It's not."

_"Okay, that's it!" _Sachiel shouted as he zipped over to Shinji's collar and tugged on it with all of his strength.

"Gack!" Clearly not expecting this new development, Shinji nearly fell over and almost choked. "Will you-gah!-cut it out!"

_"Hell no!" _Sachiel gritted his teeth as he pulled harder. _"Not until you! Get! Your! Whiny! Ass! Up!" _

A struggle between the two ensued, although it was a little pathetic and admittedly painful to watch. Seeing a boy stubbornly clutching to the couch while a tiny ghost almost choked him out didn't quite inspire the same awe that their first battle had. Granted, Sachiel was alive and Shinji was in a giant robot/cyborg/creator of all life on earth at the time, but still.

Shamshel, who had been watching from the sidelines, sighed and shook her head in disappointment. _"Boys and their squabbles," _she grumbled, then turned to Pen-Pen. _"Surely you understand, yes?"_

Pen-Pen stared at her for a moment. Then he licked his beak, a dangerous gleam in his eyes that set Shamshel on edge.

_"Whatever you may be thinking, I believe I can safely say I take issue with it."_

-0-

Miraculously, Sachiel had succeeded in dragging Shinji outside, although it had taken dropping Rei's name to get him to budge.

_"We should go see Rei!" _Sachiel had declared he tugged harder on Shinji's collar. _"Since she totally saved you from that jerkwad earlier, you should thank her!"_

"GACK!" was Shinji's response to that.

So there the odd group was, making their way through the city to Rei's apartment. It was starting to get overcast, the skies slowly becoming covered in steely grey clouds. Construction crews were buzzing about, frantically trying to repair as much of the city as possible before any rain came, filling the city with the din of shouting men and creaking machinery.

Shamshel was transfixed, watching the humans fix the damage that she had caused. _"Such determination in the face of certain destruction! These lilim are to be commended!" _

"They're just doing their jobs," Shinji dismissed, still a little sour from losing his battle with Sachiel.

_"Even so, their efforts are laudable," _Shamshel said, before drifting from his shoulder into the air. _"Please tell me of this 'Rei' person of which you speak. Is she a warrior such as yourself?"_

"Um, yes?" Shinji answered, scratching at his chin. "She's an Eva pilot, but she hasn't actually fought yet since she was injured."

_"And Shinji wuuuuuuuuvs her!" _Sachiel interjected, cheeky grin on his face.

"I do not!" Shinji protested, his face blazing red.

_"I see." _Shamshel nodded. _"Well, she must be an exceptionable individual if she is among your ranks, Destroyer. Has she recovered from her injuries yet?"_

After sending a glare at the clearly-enjoying-himself Sachiel, Shinji faced her. "Would you stop calling me that? And mostly, she's supposed to be put back on active duty sometime next week."

_"Excellent," _Shamshel said, completely ignoring the first half of his statement. _"I do not doubt your abilities, but having a stalwart ally by your side in the coming days will be most helpful."_

"Riiiiiight," Shinji drawled. He was starting to pick up on Shamshel's… odd sense of priorities. It felt like he was talking to a knight half the time, or some blue-blooded noble the other half. Well, it could've been worse, he supposed. "Anyway, we're here."

The building was just as destitute and dreary as it had been the day they'd dropped Rei off. If anything, the overcast sky above made it looking even more miserable.

Shamshel looked around, tapping a tentacle on her chin. _"… Surely you jest, Destroyer. This is no place for anyone to call home. And I do not recall our battle entering this part of the city."_

"It was like this before you came," Shinji informed her. His gaze faltered slightly when he realized something. "And probably even before I came here, too."

_Why is she living like this? For that matter… _

He remembered seeing her for the first time on the stretcher, bleeding and wincing with every move, her face twisted with pain. Then at the hospital, a blank pale face stared back at him with red eyes that held nothing in them.

_Why is she the way she is? Is it really because she isn't fully human?_

Hell, Sachiel and Shamshel acted more human than Rei did. Sure, the little Angels were pretty weird, but at least they felt, perhaps ironically, _alive_. Rei on the other hand seemed like… she was just going through the motions.

Kind of like Shinji used to. Still did, although to a lesser extent thanks to a certain friendly ghost.

_"Which is why we're here," _said that certain friendly ghost, _"We're gonna get her outta this dump!"_

_"I wholly endorse this endeavor," _Shamshel said, nodding seriously. _"Lead the way, Destroyer. I am eager to meet your fellow warrior."_

And so, with a deep breath and his two Angel companions, Shinji climbed his way up the slate-grey stairs. Thankfully, he'd remembered her apartment number, so it was an easy matter of locating it. It wasn't long before he stood before her door, finger tentatively hovering over the buzzer. He'd told himself countless times that he would go through with this, but why did he waver now?

A gentle nudge on his shoulder. Shinji looked to see Sachiel smiling up at him. _"You'll be fine, bro." _

Shinji returned the smile and moved forward. The buzzer rang, and he waited. And waited. And waited some more. The smile faltered somewhat as he pressed it again. Perhaps she was away? Was all that time spent building up his confidence wasted?

_"Well, let's just go inside then," _Sachiel said, already floating toward the door.

"We can't just barge in!" Shinji replied. "Besides, it's probably locked…"

Sachiel shrugged. _"You did the same thing at the hospital that one time and she didn't care. Why would that change now?"_

_"In either case, we have already come this far, so it would be a waste if we did not fully commit to this," _Shamshel chimed in.

Well, he supposed they did have a point. It was unlikely she was home anyway, probably back at base doing test or something. Comforted by that assumption, Shinji reached for the doorknob and tried to turn it, expecting it to not budge.

Instead, it turned easily at his touch and the door opened slightly.

_"Bingo!" _Sachiel cheered. Still, Shinji frowned, but not because it meant he had to go in.

"Who would leave their door unlocked in a place like this?" he breathed, mostly to himself. Despite his mostly rhetorical question, Shamshel saw fit to answer.

_"Well, she is a warrior much like yourself, correct? Perhaps she feels no fear from potential intruders."_

"I'm not sure that's it," Shinji replied, scratching his chin. Even as he said the words, he was already swinging the door open all the way and stepping inside.

What he saw made him even more uneasy.

_"You know, for some reason, I thought she was someone that'd take care of her place a little better," _Sachiel commented as he floated through the apartment. Shamshel followed him, frowning at the sight.

Dirty shoe marks smudged the carpet, as if Rei had never bothered to take them off. A thick clump of letters filled the mailbox, woefully un-emptied for who knew how long. Dust caked almost every surface, and Shinji had to wipe his nose to deal with the musty scent in the stale air. Clothes, all consisting only of school uniforms, were scattered haphazardly on the floor, left where they had fallen.

Shinji's fingers twitched, and he had to viciously fight down the overwhelming desire to clean literally _everything_. Out of habit and despite Rei's clear disregard for such things, Shinji took off his shoes before stepping onto the carpet. "Um, hello?" he called out, glancing nervously around the small apartment. "Ayanami?"

"Yes?" came a soft voice right behind him.

_"GAH!" _shrieked all three of the intruders, though only one jumped from where he stood and almost tripped on himself. Shinji spun around to face an utterly-expressionless Rei Ayanami staring back at him. Sachiel and Shamshel briefly had expressions of wide-eyed shock on their faces, before both coughed lightly and acted like nothing had happened, with Sachiel even nonchalantly whistling.

Placing a hand on his heaving chest, Shinji took a deep breath and looked the girl over. Thankfully, she was in her school uniform; the situation could have been a LOT more awkward.

"Um, hi," he offered weakly.

"Did you need something?" Rei asked.

"Not really," Shinji answered, nervously scratching the back of his head, "I, uh…"

_"Thank her!" _Sachiel chimed in.

"Oh, right! I wanted to thank you for helping me yesterday," Shinji said. He bowed slightly. "So… thank you!"

Rei's eyebrows twitched, the only visible sign of her confusion. "'Thank you'? For what?"

"For stopping that guy from hitting me again," Shinji explained, a little surprised that Rei needed clarification on that point. "I didn't expect anyone to do something like that for me."

_"I would've if I could've…" _Sachiel grumbled, folding his arms. Shinji's expression fell at the words, for some reason feeling bad even though it was something neither of them could help.

"I see," Rei said as she finally recollected the event. Her reasons for taking action were ambiguous, even to her, as a strange rush of emotion had overcome at the sight of Ikari being threatened. She looked down at her hand, which had acted before she could even process what was happening. "Was such an action worthy of gratitude?" she asked.

Shinji nodded and smiled. "Well, I thought so, at least. Usually you thank someone for helping you."

"I see," she responded, filing away that fact for future interactions. "Was that all?"

Shinji blinked, taking a moment to gather what she meant. "Well, uh, I suppose I just wanted to see how you're doing?"

"I am well," Rei replied.

He frowned, his eyes darting around the apartment. Or rather, the dismal state it was in. "Are you, really?" he breathed, without realizing it.

"I am," she repeated.

_"Is she usually like this?" _Shamshel stage-whispered to Sachiel.

He nodded.

_"The lilim have made very odd choices for their champions." _

_"No kidding. Anyway, this is going nowhere fast. Yo, Shinji! Ask her if she wants to go to the bookstore with us!"_

"Then, uh, want to go to the bookstore with us - er, I mean, me!" Shinji corrected himself hastily, praying she didn't notice his slip. "You could pick out a book there and I'll get it for you. You know, like I promised earlier?"

A pregnant pause ensued, and for a moment Shinji was worried she'd just give him the cold shoulder. When she finally nodded, he let out a sigh of relief.

They left shortly after, though Shinji couldn't help but look back at the apartment building once they were out on the sidewalk. The ruined building had no place in the supposed futuristic and progressive city of Tokyo-3, and the fact that it housed one of the very few Eva pilots in the world made it even more suspect. And after seeing the state of her room…

_She shouldn't be living there._

"Hey, Ayanami," Shinji started, turning away from the building behind them. The two pilots were now making their way to the old part of town, the overcast sky looming over them like a grey curtain. "Why do you live there? It seems… unsafe."

"Because I was ordered to," Rei answered.

_"Sound familiar?" _Sachiel commented.

Loathe as Shinji was to admit it, it did indeed sound familiar to something he'd said before. But this seemed like a much more extreme case.

"You don't have any problems with living there?" Shinji asked.

"I am grateful for what I am given."

_"She is one of the few chosen to defend lilimkind," _Shamshel said, and to Shinji's surprise she actually sounded a little peeved. _"Her station deserves more than squalor." _He couldn't help but agree.

Still, Shinji decided not to press the matter any further. For all he knew, if he asked any more questions than she would just leave without another word.

A wet drop on his head shook him from his thoughts. Startled, he looked up at the darkening sky, which began to rumble as more and more droplets began to rain down on them.

_"Brother…" _Shamshel looked up at the sky worriedly, her tentacles twitching anxiously. _"Please explain this strange phenomena."_

_"Chill out, Sammy, it's just rain." _As he said that, the rain started to come down harder and grew louder. _"We might wanna find some shelter though, Shinji."_

"Crap, I should've brought an umbrella," muttered the Third Child, shielding his eyes and running ahead. "Come on, Ayanami, there's a bus stop ahead!"

The rain was almost deafening at the point, and Shinji let out a sigh of relief once he reached the safety of the bus stop. Thankfully they were close enough…

… Wait a second. Where was Rei?

_"Wow, leaving a girl alone in the rain?" _Sachiel jabbed, _"That's kinda lame, dude."_

"What?!" Shinji spun to look back the way he came, and sure enough Rei was simply walking toward them as calm as can be while getting soaked to the bone. "What's she thinking?!"

Without another thought, he ran back out, getting sprayed in the face almost instantly. When he reached her, Shinji grabbed her pale hand and pulled her forward. "Come on!" he shouted above the din.

Turning around too quickly to catch the look of genuine shock on Rei's face, all Shinji could focus on was getting her out of the rain as soon as possible. The two ran into the bus stop, where the watching Sachiel and Shamshel waited. "What… were you thinking?" Shinji asked her in-between breaths, plopping down on the plastic bench with a wet _squish_.

"I was heading toward the bus stop like you suggested," Rei calmly replied as she rung out her skirt. "Your actions were unnecessary."

"Maybe not _necessary_," Shinji said, leaning against the back of the bench. "But I wanted to."

"Why?"

"Because it was the right thing to do," he answered easily.

Silence fell between them at that point, overtaken by the ceaseless rainfall. Shamshel seemed transfixed by the weather as she pressed her face against the glass of the bus top. Happy that his sister was enjoying herself, Sachiel laid down on Shinji's shoulder with a soft smile, closing his eyes and idly swinging a foot. Shinji and Rei both gazed into the rain, watching it wash away trash and grime from the streets.

A few minutes passed in that manner, with the four of them in peaceful contentment. After the whirlwind events of the yesterday, it was appreciated.

Which was part of why it was so surprising when Rei was the one to break it.

"Ikari… may I ask you a question?"

_"She just did, didn't she?" _Sachiel commented, eyes still closed. Shinji, after he'd gotten over being dumbfounded, jerked his shoulder in response and sent the little Angel flopping off. _"Hey!"_

Shinji turned toward his fellow pilot. "Of course."

Rei paused for a moment, as if struggling to find the words. Finally, she asked, "What is your bond with Eva?"

He blinked rapidly and tilted his head, thrown off a little by the question. Well, that kinda came out of left field. "Um, how do you mean?"

"Your synchronization ratio is consistently high. The Eva has responded twice to your distress, but each time in very different manners," she listed off, her crimson gaze never wavering from straight ahead. "And yet you dislike it. You disobey orders. Why?"

Shamshel turned away from the rain to face them, clearly curious for the answer as well.

Shinji frowned as he mulled it over. His relationship with Unit 01 was pretty complicated, to say the least, but telling Rei that felt like a copout. He thought about why he'd first piloted; to save Rei. And because Father, Misato, and Ritsuko told him to.

No, she didn't ask why he piloted, she'd asked what his bond with it was. If he'd been asked a day ago, he would've said that he hated everything about it. The pain, Father staring back at him, that cold voice with which Misato commanded, so different from how she sounded at home…

But when he looked at Sachiel sitting on his knee, grinning and giving him a thumbs-up, he remembered how he'd felt at the last battle. He'd never felt more connected with someone, like he and that person _understood _each other more than anything in the world. And it was all because of the Eva.

And so it was with a smile when Shinji finally answered. "My bond with Eva… I suppose that I'm thankful for it."

Turning to face him, Rei's blue eyebrows furrowed ever so slightly. "Thankful?" Her tone was almost at the level of disbelief.

Shinji nodded. "Yeah, I think so. Because… it helped me make a friend."

Sachiel's eyes widened at the words.

The Third Child nodded again, this time to himself. "That's right. It was only because of the Eva that I was able to meet this person, so even though it's painful, and I get yelled at… it's worth it."

Sachiel made a sniffling sound, and Shamshel rushed to his side, patting him on the back with a tentacle.

"Who is this person?" Rei asked. "The Captain?"

He shook his head, looking down to see Sachiel barely holding back tears. "He's my best friend."

A loud _pop_ echoed in the bus stop, and Rei gasped.

And then stared. Stared really, _really _hard at Shinji's knee. Right where Sachiel and Shamshel now stood.

It took the other three a few moments to understand what had just happened. The _how _and _why _escaped them, but the undeniable fact dawned on them, much to Shinji's rising horror.

Rei said nothing for a full minute, during all of which Shinji was sweating profusely with his heart pounding in his chest.

Finally, still keeping her crimson eyes firmly locked on the _two undead Angels_, Rei spoke. "I require an explanation."


End file.
